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THE   ISLAND   IMPOSSIBLE 


He  's  asleep  in  (he  poppy  beds,  they  say, 
He  has  been  so  busy  the  livelong  day. 
And  now  he  is  fast  in  slumber  deep 
In  the  field  where  the  poppies  close  viyil  keep. 
But  I  have  been  there  myself,  I  say, 
And  have  noticed  a  ivonderful,  broad  highway. 
Whose  borders  are  fair  with  flowers,  that  blow 
Beyond  the  field  where  the  poppies  grow. 

*    ^    * 

/  think,  tvith  his  comrades,  hand  in  hand, 
He  has  gone  away  to  a  larger  land 
Under  the  sunlight  and  moonlight  and  stars. 
Tliey  have  broken  through  the  encircling  bars 
Which  guard  its,  prisoners,  from  secrets  deep. 
Whose  keys  are  kept  in  the  Country  of  Sleep. 
And  he^s  off  on  the  highway  grand,  I  know, 
That  crosses  the  field  tohere  the  poppies  grow. 


The  Island  Impossible  • 
% 

Harriet  Morgan 

^JlCCusira  tecC  By 
C/^  Katharine  Pyle  '■>si? 


ton/. 


^o/ii 
Little ,  Brown  ^  Co 
1833. 


Copyright,  1S99, 
By  Little,  Brown,  and  Company. 

All  rights  reserved. 


SHnttirrsttg  ^Strss: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


CnsatbrU  to 

TOM     MURPHY, 

JACK   O'NORY'S 

CLOSEST    COMRADE,    FAITHFULLEST    FRIEND. 


rA 


Chapter  Page 

I    The  Island  Impossi- 
ble   1 

II    In  the  Maple-sugar 

Forest      ....     12 

III  In    Charge    op    the 

Light-house      .     .     31 

IV  At  a  South   Ameri- 

can Port      ...     48 

V    In  the  Convalescent 

Ward 70   "^^ 

VI  Jurors       

VII  On  the  Great  Desert 

VIII  At  the  Queen's  Drawing-room 

IX  The  Rescue 

X  Amongst  the  Hop-pickers 

XI  Commissioners 

XII     AUF   WiEDERSEHEN      .      .       . 


L'ENVOI 207 


"Jack  O'Nory  fell  asleep  in  the  field 

WHERE  THE  POPPIES  GROW "   .     .     .     .     Frontispiece 

"  Their  burdens  were  thrown  on  to  the 

BLAZING  coals" Page  18 

"  So  the  nurses    and   the   three   little 

convalescents  began  to  dance  a  jig  "        "     86 

"  One  man  who  was  lying  on  the  ground, 

suddenly  sat  up  " "   130 

"  so  at  last  they  came  down  to  the  pier, 

gorgeous  " "   179 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   ISLAND   IMPOSSIBLE 

TACK   O'NORY  fell    asleep  in  the 
J      field  where  the  poppies  grow. 

"  Do  you  think  the  other  children  will 
consent  ?  "  said  Jack  O'Nory. 

Rosey  Pink  said  she  did  n't  know  why 
they  should  not  consent,  and  Tom  Mur- 
phy said  he  did  n't  know  what  they  were 
to  consent  about. 

"Neither  do  I,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

Then  Jack  O'Nory  explained  :  '•  TVhy, 
you  two  children  and  I  are  going  to  live 


THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


on  that  beautiful  Island,  ■which  is  so  near  the 
shore  of  the  city  that  avc  can  build  a  short  bridge, 
and  never  have  to  use  a  boat  for  coming  or  for 
going,  —  but  we  must  have  the  other  children, 
too,  —  and  Anno.  Then,  if  Anno  comes,  Roscoe 
will  surely  come,  and  he  could  do  the  hard  work 
while  we  could  help  Anno  to  take  care  of  us ; 
and  Mr.  Rattles  and  Remus  could  keep  their 
boats  at  our  wharf.  You  remember  that  there 
is  a  lovely  bay  farther  back,  and  we  would 
own  the  Island,  and  live  on  it,  and  grow  up 
on  it." 

"  But  what  about  the  fathei-s  and  the  mothers 
and  the  dear  auntie  ?  " 

"  That 's  all  right,"  said  Jack,  "  they  will  cer- 
tainly consent." 

"  Why,  Jack,"  said  Tom,  "  that  will  be  the 
most  beautiful  thing  we  have  ever  done,"  — 
and  Rosey  Pink  clapped  her  hands  and  danced 
upon  her  toes. 

"  They  are  coming  now,"  she  cried,  —  "  all  the 
children ;  and  Anno  is  along,  and  oh  !  I  will  go 
and  tell  them  !  " 

How  pleased  they  were  —  Ernest  and  Calleen 
and  Mary  and  Jeanne,  and  Sam  Holmes.  Anno 
said  she  would  call  Roscoe.     Then  they  all  ran 


THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


down  to  the  wharves  and  found  Mr.  Rattles  and 
Remus  Rattles,  who  immediately  consented  to 
give  up  their  berth  at  the  wharf  of  the  city,  and 
to  begin  at  once  to  build  a  boat-house  on  the 
little  bay  which  ran  into  the  Island. 

The  fathers  and  the  mothers  and  the  dear 
auntie  objected  ;  but  the  children  made  such 
beautiful  promises  that  they  at  last  gave  their 
consent,  insisting,  however,  that  a  school-house 
should  be  built  on  the  Island,  —  in  which  the 
children  should  live,  —  and  that  every  Sunday 
they  should  come  over  to  the  city  on  the  Conti- 
nent to  church. 

"  Make  the  school-house  a  college  instead," 
said  Jack  O'Nory,  "  for  we  will  grow  up,  and  we 
must  have  all  the  education  possible.  We  are 
going  to  live  on  the  Island  forever." 

"  And  we  promise,"  said  all  the  children,  "  to 
come  over  to  the  Continent  on  Sundays  and  go 
to  church." 

The  fathers  and  the  mothers  and  the  dear 
auntie  said  a  great  many  times,  to  a  great  many 
propositions,  "  That  is  impossible  ; "  but  in  the 
end  they  all  agreed  that  the  children  should  be- 
come islanders;  and  these  elders  looked  very  wise 
as  they  nodded  to  each  other  and  said  very  low, 


TUE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


"  It  will  bo  just  going  to  boarding-school,  you 
know,  for  there  must  be  a  professor  and  a  pro- 
fessor's wife,  and  the  children  must  live  in  the 
school ; "  and  it  was  decided  that  other  boys  and 
girls  should  come  over  from  the  Continent  to  day- 
school,  and  to  college,  —  when  everybody  was 
old  enough  to  make  it  a  college. 

"  Only,"  said  the  children,  "  they  must  never 
come  any  farther  than  the  college,  —  never  in- 
side of  the  Island,  for  that  is  ours." 

Then  the  fathers  and  the  mothers  and  the  dear 
auntie  decided  that  there  should  be  a  professor 
for  the  college,  and  a  professor's  wife,  and  that 
the  children  must  live  in  the  college. 

"  All  right,"  said  the  children ;  "  but  we  must 
have  our  own  rooms  and  our  own  table,  and 
Anno  will  wait  on  us  and  Roscoe  will  do  the 
hard  work." 

The  elders  were  greatly  pleased  that  Anno  was 
to  be  with  them,  so  immediately  the  college  was 
built,  and  the  bridge ;  and  a  great  many 
laws  and  rules  were  made,  one  of  which  was 
that  no  day-scholar  crossing  the  bridge  to  the 
college  must  ever  go  anywhere  on  the  Island, 
unless  she  was  invited. 

"  Or  he,"  suggested  Tom  Murphy. 


THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


Then  there  was  a  great  time,  —  the  elders 
furnishing  every  room  in  the  college,  and  the 
children  taking  over  all  their  belongings.  Jack 
O'Nory  and  Tom  Murphy  seemed  to  have  more 
pieces  of  paper  and  paints  and  pencils  for  their 
artist  work  than  you  could  put  into  a  bushel 
basket. 

And  Calleen  had  lots  of  prints  of  broken  arms 
and  legs,  and  thigh-bones  and  ankle-bones,  and 
badly  made  hearts  and  livers,  —  just  such  things 
as  one  sees  in  a  medical  museum,  for  medical 
work  was  her  bent,  —  though  one  of  the  children 
said  it  was  a  curious  thing  to  talk  of  Calleen's 
bent,  when  she  certainly  was  as  straight  as  a 
stick, 

Jeanne  insisted  that  she  was  to  be  a  musician, 
but  as  she  had  not  a  note  of  written  music  in 
her  possession,  nothing  was  carried  over  which 
could  show  any  furthering  of  her  intentions. 

When  Mary  was  asked  what  particular  kind 
of  bent  she  was  to  follow,  which  might  mean 
some  particular  kind  of  belonging  to  be  moved 
over,  she  said  she  had  no  particular  kind  of 
belongings,  because  her  intention  was  to  be  a 
house-mother. 

"So  also  is  mine,"  said  Sam  Holmes;  and  as 


6  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Sam  was  always  ready  to  follow  Mary's  lead,  it 
seemed  quite  natural  that  his  vocation  also  was 
to  be  that  of  a  house-mother. 

Ernest  had  a  lot  of  engineering  drawings ;  and 
as  for  Rosey  Pink,  she  did  not  seem  to  have  any 
desire  for  belongings  of  any  kind,  —  her  busi- 
ness was  to  do  whatever  Tom  Murphy  and  Jack 
O'Nory  did,  and  to  be  ordered  about  by  them  at 
a  moment's  notice. 

Of  course  everybody  knew  what  Anno's  busi- 
ness was,  —  which  was  to  do  everything  and 
attend  to  everybody  and  think  of  everything, 
and  put  as  much  work  as  was  possible  ujion 
Roscoe's  shoulders ;  while  Roscoe  was  simply  her 
shadow,  and  you  may  be  sure  he  had  work  enougli 
in  sight,  —  and  the  fathers  and  the  mothers  and 
the  dear  auntie  loaded  him  with  all  kinds  of 
packages  and  all  sorts  of  advice. 

The  professor  and  the  professor's  wife,  who 
were  to  live  in  the  college,  left  the  children  free 
to  make  their  own  arrangements ;  and  so  the  life 
on  the  beautiful  Island  began. 

But  at  the  table,  where  they  were  all  assem- 
bled a  few  days  after  taking  possession,  it  was 
decided  that  the  Island  must  have  a  name. 

Calleen  said  she  had  heard  some  of  the  day- 


THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


scholars  making  fun  of  the  inhabitants  and  call- 
ing them  the  "  Robinson  Cruso-ers." 

Tom  Murphy  said  that  was  n't  a  bad  name, 
and  it  would  do  very  well,  but  it  was  not  exactly 
original,  and  it  was  time  they  had  some  other 
name  than  "  inhabitants,"  and  certainly  the 
beautiful  Island  deserved  to  have  a  name  of  its 
own. 

Then  there  was  uncertainty  as  to  the  means 
of  christening  it.  The  boys  thought  there  ought 
to  be  champagne,  as  all  the  ships  were  christened 
with  champagne,  —  and  this  Island  ought  to 
have  the  same  honor  that  a  ship  of  war  has, 
and  certainly  should  be  christened  in  the  same 
way. 

Ernest  said,  "  In  the  first  place,  we  have  n't 
any  champagne,  and  it  would  hardly  do  to 
christen  the  Island  with  milk  or  lemonade  or 
soda-water  or  ginger-pop." 

Rosey  Pink  interrupted  to  say  that  she  thought 
ginger-pop  would  be  as  good  as  champagne. 
But  Ernest  went  on  speaking  without  noticing 
the  interruption. 

"In  the  second  place,"  he  said,  "one  of  our 
most  beautiful  new  battleships  was  christened 
the  other  day  with  pure  spring  water." 


TEE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


"  Just  as  they  christen  a  baby,"  interjected 
Jeanne. 

The  opinion  of  all  the  children  was  immedi- 
ately expressed, —  that  clear  spring  water  was 
the  very  thing  to  use,  and  there  was  a  beautiful 
spring  of  clear  water  just  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 

"  And  we  must  go  to  the  top  of  the  hill  and 
christen  it,"  said  Jack  O'Nory ;  "  and  we  must 
plant  a  long  pole  there,  and  put  up  a  United 
States  flag  that  can  be  seen  far  out  at  sea." 

'•'■  Jack  will  certainly  be  a  sailor  man,"  said 
Mary,  "  he  is  so  fond  of  the  sea." 

"  Oh  no  !  never,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

Jack  said  that  when  they  all  went  on  their 
expeditions,  that  would  be  the  first  land  they 
should  see,  coming  back ;  so  they  took  a 
crystal  vase  with  them  and  started  out  to 
christen  the  Island,  When  they  came  to  the 
spring  they  filled  the  vase  with  clear  water. 
Roscoe  and  Mr.  Rattles  and  Remus  Rattles  had 
joined  them,  carrying  the  long  pole  from  which 
the  United  States  flag  was  to  float :  and  Anno 
took  charge  of  the  vase  of  water,  thinking  it 
would  go  more  safely  up  the  hill  in  her  hands 
than  in  any  of  those  smaller  hands  which  were 
in  such  a  hurry  now. 


THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


"  But  what  about  the  flag  ? "  said  the  children. 

Mr.  Rattles  said  that  he  had  brought  the 
boat-house  flag  with  him,  because  he  had  an- 
other smaller  one  stowed  away  in  a  locker, 
•which  would  do  for  the  boat-house. 

"  What  shall  the  name  of  the  Island  be  ? " 
■was  the  next  question. 

After  a  little  silence,  while  everybody  was 
looking  at  everybody  else,  Mary  suggested  that 
as  the  elders  had  said  so  many  times  to  so 
many  propositions,  "  That  will  be  impossible," 
it  would  be  a  good  thing  to  call  the  Island 
"  The  Island  Impossible." 

Rosey  Pink  cried  out,  "  Yes,  yes,  let  us  call 
it  '  The  Island  Impossible,'  and  Jack  O'Nory 
shall  christen  it." 

"  No,  indeed,"  said  Jack  O'Nory ;  "  this 
Island  is  exactly  like  a  ship,  and  so  a  girl  must 
christen  it  —  girls  always  christen  ships." 

So  it  was  decided  that  they  should  all  form 
a  ring,  and  the  eldest  girl,  who  was  Mary,  and 
who  was  about  a  month  older  than  some  of  the 
others,  should  throw  the  water,  while  every- 
body should  cry  out,  "  Island  Impossible !  " 
"  Good  luck  !  "  "  Besides,  Mary  ought  to  do 
it,"  said  Sam  Holmes, "  for  it  is  she  who  thought 
of  the  name." 


10  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

So  they  formed  a  circle,  and  while  Mary  was 
throwing  the  water  on  the  ground  every  child 
shouted  out,  "  Island  Impossible,  we  wish  you 
good  luck  ! " 

Then  Mr.  Rattles  took  some  strong  cord  out 
of  his  pocket  and  fixed  it  to  the  end  of  the  pole, 
and  Remus  and  Roscoe  helped  him  to  dig  a 
place  for  the  pole ;  and  after  it  was  fixed  steadily 
in  the  ground,  they  put  the  cord  through  the 
place  for  it  in  the  flag,  and  they  hoisted  up 
the  flag,  while  everybody  shouted  "  Hurrah  ! 
Hurrah  !  " 

After  it  was  over  Jeanne  asked  if  they 
thought  the  Continental  children,  who  called 
them  the  Robinson  Cruso-ers,  would  now  call 
them  the  "  Island  Impossiblers." 

It  was  decided  that  they  would  not  let  any 
one  know  about  this  new  name  for  their  Island  ; 
and  as  it  was  to  be  a  secret,  they  supposed  that, 
after  all,  they  would  have  to  be  contented  with 
the  name  "  inhabitants." 

"  And  why  not,"  said  Ernest ;  "  when  dis- 
coverers land  on  an  island  they  always  call  the 
people  who  come  to  meet  them  'the  inhabi- 
tants ; '  so  that  will  do  for  us." 

The  children  began  now,  in  the  afternoons 


THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE  H 


when  school  was  over,  to  go  on  so  many  ex- 
peditions in  the  boats,—  sometimes  also  pretty 
late  on  moonlight  nights,  — that  Mr.  Rattles 
and  Remus  came  near  having  nervous  prostra- 
tion, having  to  work  so  hard  with  sailing  and 
rowing;  and  these  two  people  would  many 
times  fall  asleep,  —  sometimes  when  they  were 
quite  far  out  to  sea,  — so  that  the  children  very 
soon  learned  to  manage  the  boats  themselves. 


12  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


CHAPTER  II 

IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST 

"  '"jT^HERE  'S  a  day's  and  a  night's  business 
-■-  waiting  for  you  children,  if  you  choose 
to  take  it,"  said  Mr.  Rattles. 

Mary  asked,  "  What  is  the  business,  Mr. 
Rattles?" 

The  children  were  all  sitting  about  on  the 
beach,  for  it  was  a  holiday,  and  though  it  was 
very  early  in  the  spring,  the  day  was  warm, 
and  there  was  a  smell  of  spring-time  in  the  air. 
The  little  waves  were  coming  in  to  the  shore 
laden  with  a  song,  and  the  sun  was  shining 
everywhere. 

"  Well,  you  see,  my  brother  owns  that  Island, 
which  is  covered  with  a  maple  forest,  and  it  is 
time  for  the  sugar-boiling.  Last  year  he  had 
helpers,  —  one  is  obliged  to  have  helpers  at 
maple-sugar  time,  —  but  they  behaved  so  badly, 
and  were  the  cause  of  so  much  loss  to  him, 
that  he  told  them  they  should  never  work  for 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  13 

him  again.  Now  they  are  his  enemies,  and  they 
have  formed  a  plan  to  go  and  empty  out  all 
the  sap  which  has  been  flowing  into  the  vessels 
set  to  catch  it.  Then,  of  course,  he  would  have 
no  maple  sugar  or  maple  syrup,  and  would 
lose  about  one  thousand  dollars." 

"  Are  n't  there  other  helpers  to  be  hired  ? " 
asked  Ernest. 

"  Yes  ;  but  these  bad  men  would  immediately 
hear  of  that,  and  would  at  once  go  and  empty 
away  the  sap.  What  I  want  to  do  for  him  is  to 
have  you  children  go  there  to-day  and  to-night. 
Remus  and  I,  and  Anno  and  Roscoe,  would  go 
with  you.  Then,  you  see,  by  dark  all  the  sap 
could  be  gathered,  and  we  could  set  to  work 
boiling  the  sap  down  to  molasses.  There  would 
not  be  time  to  boil  it  down  to  sugar,  but  it 
could  easily  be  turned  to  syrup ;  and  with  my 
brother's  boat  and  our  two  boats  we  could 
bring  the  syrup  to  his  home  on  the  Continent, 
where  he  could  finish  his  boiling  without 
molestation,  and  so  save  his  whole  crop." 

"  But,  Mr.  Rattles,"  said  Jack  O'Nory, "  what 
is  to  prevent  his  enemies  from  going  there  to- 
night and  emptying  out  his  sap.  We  could  n't 
drive  them   away." 


14  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  To-night  they  have  another  job,  quite  inland, 
and  so  far  away  from  the  Maple  Island  that 
they  could  not  possibly  see  the  light  of  the  fires  ; 
and  they  feel  safe,  for  they  know  one  cannot 
gather  the  sap  and  make  the  sugar  without 
helpers,  and  they  know  that  my  brother  has  not 
engaged  helpers." 

"  We  '11  go,"  said  the  children. 

"  And  right  away,"  said  Calleen,  rising  to  her 
feet. 

"  Well,  this  is  a  business  matter,"  Mr.  Rattles 
went  on  to  say  in  a  very  drawley  tone,  which 
was  not  fair,  just  as  he  had  succeeded  in  rous- 
ing the  children  to  a  great  impatience.  "  My 
brother  says  that  he  can't  take  helpers  unless 
the  helpers  will  take  pay." 

"  Pay,"  said  all  the  children.     "  Oh  !  never," 

"  I  allowed  it  would  be  so,"  said  Mr.  Rattles ; 
"  but  I  don't  know  what  my  brother  can  do  if 
you  won't  go.  He  will  lose  all  his  crop,  and  if 
you  do  consent,  it  will  take  the  whole  crowd 
of  us  to  get  through  gathering  the  sap  before 
night-fall." 

"  But  pay,  Mr.  Rattles ;  you  know  we  can't  do 
that,"  said  Jack  O'Nory. 

Mr.  Rattles  was  chewing  a  piece  of  stick,  and 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  15 

he  did  not  immediately  answer.  Remus  Rattles 
spoke  up  and  said  :  — 

"  Why  not  let  Uncle  Sam  build  us  a  new  boat- 
house  ;  we  want  one,  and  that  would  n't  be  pay." 

"  All  right,"  said  the  children,  "  we  will  take 
the  new  boat-house.  Hurrah  for  Mr.  Sam 
Rattles,  and  hurrah  for  this  new  business !  " 

They  all  got  into  the  two  boats  and  rowed 
away  to  the  maple-sugar  forest,  looking  so  like 
a  party  of  people  going  to  a  picnic,  that  even  if 
they  had  met  those  bad  helpers,  the  helpers 
would  not  for  a  moment  imagine  that  they  were 
working-people  who  were  going  to  cheat  them 
out  of  their  very  wicked  revenge. 

Soon  the  whole  party  were  in  the  maple  for- 
est, and  when  they  saw  the  number  of  trees  they 
almost  lost  heart,  for  how  could  they  ever  empty 
the  sap  which  had  been  flowing  from  all  those 
trees,  and  carry  it  in  pails  to  the  great  fire 
which  would  be  built  for  the  sugar-boiling. 

But  Mr.  Sam  Rattles  arranged  everything 
splendidly.  He  counted  that  with  Remus  and 
Anno  there  would  be  five  boys  and  five  girls, 
and  then  his  brother  and  himself  with  Roscoe 
would  make  three  strong  men. 

A  boy  and  a  girl  should  each  take  a  different 


16  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

piece  of  ground  with  their  pails  for  emptying ; 
then  each  detachment  should  set  its  pails  at 
a  given  spot,  and  the  three  strong  men,  Mr. 
Rattles,  Mr,  Sam  Rattles,  and  Roscoe,  should 
carry  the  pails  over  to  the  boiling-kettles  and 
bring  them  back  to  be  filled  again.  And  it  was 
amazing  to  see  how  much  work  was  done  by 
the  busy  helpers,  so  that  the  sun  was  really  low 
in  the  sky  before  they  began  to  be  hungry  and 
to  be  glad  of  the  delicious  sandwiches  and  the 
fresh  milk  which  the  owner  of  all  this  wealth 
had  furnished  for  them ;  and  before  sunset  there 
was  only  a  small  patch  of  the  forest  to  be  fin- 
ished. The  children  joined  together  for  that 
patch,  and  said  they  could  easily  carry  the  pails, 
as  there  would  be  so  many  of  them  in  the  one 
place.  So  the  three  men  lighted  the  fires  for 
boiling. 

Mr.  Sam  Rattles  knew  that  by  this  time  all 
the  bad  helpers  had  gone  inland  to  the  other 
maple  forest. 

"  Have  you  tasted  the  sap  ? "  said  Tom 
Murphy. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Jack  O'Nory.  "  I  tasted  it, 
thinking  that  it  would  be  at  least  sweet,  if  it 
was  as  thin  as  water.     Instead  of  sweet,  I  call 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  17 

it  bitter,  and  very  nasty.  Do  you  suppose  tliey 
put  sugar  in  it  when  they  boil  it  ? " 

"  No  indeed,"  interrupted  Calleen.  "  It  is 
just  this  sap  which  makes  the  maple  sugar.  I 
know,  for  I  was  once  in  a  country,  with  the  dear 
auntie,  where  the  Indians  make  the  maple 
sugar,  and  I  tasted  it  then,  and  was  very  dis- 
appointed.    So  I  know  about  it." 

But  pretty  soon  the  last  pailful  was  gathered, 
and  the  children  trooped  over  the  ground  carry- 
ing the  pails  and  guarding  their  precious  freight, 
from  risk  of  spilling,  by  being  very  careful  about 
stepping  over  old  roots  and  blackberry  vines  and 
low  impeding  bushes. 

And  then  how  beautiful  it  was  when  they 
reached  the  boiling  place  and  saw  three  im- 
mense kettles  hung  from  stakes  over  the  fires, 
and  how  important  they  felt  when  they  discov- 
ered that  the  whole  business  of  keeping  the  fires 
up  was  to  be  theirs,  as  the  three  men  from  this 
time  out  must  be  busy  with  the  boiling. 

The  night  had  fallen,  and  there  was  no  moon  ; 
but  how  far  the  light  of  these  glowing  fires 
extended !  Indeed  it  seemed  to  the  children 
that  the  whole  island  was  lighted  up,  and  they 
could  see  the  sticks  and  broken  branches  which 

2 


18  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

■were  needed  to  feed  those  monster  fires  much 
more  easily  than  if  it  had  been  daylight,  and  it 
was  easy  to  see  which  down-reaching  branches 
were  brittle  and  easily  broken.  But  the  helpers 
had  to  work  very  hard  and  were  really  earning 
their  new  boat-house,  for  the  fires  were  truly 
monsters,  with  appetites  that  were  never  satis- 
fied ;  and  the  moment  the  children  advanced 
with  their  sheaves  of  dry  wood,  their  burdens 
were  thrown  on  to  the  blazing  coals,  and  such 
a  stirring  with  long  poles  was  going  on  now 
that  Mr.  Rattles  and  his  brother  and  Roscoe 
had  faces  almost  as  red  as  the  coals. 

Mr.  Sam  Rattles  said,  "  Now,  children,  if  you 
can  make  a  spurt  and  bring  double  the  quantity 
of  fuel  on  this  bout,  you  will  have  time  to  stop 
over  one  journey  and  eat  some  bread  and  syrup. 
I  have  brought  the  bread  with  me,  and  although 
we  have  not  yet  the  thick  syrup,  it  is  sufficiently 
boiled  to  be  very  good." 

So  the  helpers  started  off  with  new  strength 
to  do  double  work.  The  thought  of  a  rest  was 
delightful,  although  they  hardly  put  much  faith 
in  the  idea  that  the  tasteless  sap  they  had  been 
so  busy  about  could  be  really  good  for  anything 
as  syrup. 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  19 

But  it  'Was  good^  — "  delicious,"  the  helpers 
said,  and  they  did  n't  think  it  could  be  much 
better  even  when  it  should  be  thicker.  And 
when  they  went  to  work  again,  their  task  was 
lighter,  for  Mr.  Sam  Rattles  said  it  would  not  be 
necessary  to  bring  so  much  fuel  now.  Slower 
fires  were  better  when  the  sap  was  beginning 
to  thicken.     Mr.  Rattles  said  to  his  brother :  — 

"  Why  not  wait  and  boil  it  down  to  sugar 
here  ? "  But  Mr.  Sam  Rattles  said  there  would 
be  danger  that  way,  for  they  would  have  to  go 
on  boiling  till  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  which 
would  be  daylight,  and  then  the  sugar  could  not 
be  moved  until  it  was  quite  cold ;  and  after  all 
this  work  the  enemies  might  come  and  take  all 
the  sugar,  which  would  be  worse  than  taking  the 
sap.  As  it  was  now,  the  fires  could  be  put  out 
by  four  o'clock,  and  the  syrup  could  be  carried  to 
the  boats  in  the  large  covered  pails  ;  and  indeed 
by  four  o'clock  the  syrup  was  so  thick  that  it 
was  splendid,  and  one  hundred  pails  of  it  were 
standing  in  the  cool  morning  air  waiting  for 
transportation. 

The  three  strong  men  were  obliged  to  make 
forty  trips  between  the  boats  and  the  kettles 
before  it  was  all  embarked,  so  it  was  very  wise 


20  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

of  Mr,  Sam  Rattles  to  have  thought  of  that,  and 
to  have  made  his  fires  so  near  the  boat-landing. 

When  it  came  time  for  rowing  the  cargo  over 
to  the  Continent,  Mr.  Rattles  made  some  demur 
about  leaving  the  children  without  him,  and 
yet  there  was  no  one  who  could  manage  the 
sail-boat  and  take  care  of  the  sugar  at  the  same 
time,  and  Remus  would  have  to  help  him  with 
the  sail. 

The  children  told  him  not  to  fear  for  them ; 
they  would  be  very  comfortable  till  the  boats 
should  return ;  "  and,"  they  said,  "  there  are  no 
wild  beasts  on  the  Island.  So,  good-bye,  Mr. 
Rattles  ; "  and  then  they  began  to  sing  "  Good- 
bye, John,  don't  stay  long,"  and  Mr.  Rattles, 
whose  name  was  John,  went  off,  smiling,  to  the 
boat. 

"  And  now,  what  shall  we  do  ? "  said  the 
children. 

"  Anno,  you  will  have  to  be  the  bravest,  be- 
cause you  are  grown  up." 

"  I  don't  feel  brave  at  all,"  said  Anno.  "  I 
did  n't  know  that  it  would  be  so  lonesome  after 
the  men  should  go ;  but  it  is  lonesome." 

"  That 's  the  truth,"  said  Rosey  Pink.  "  And 
the  tires  are  nearly  dead  out,  and  it  is  very  dark. 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  21 

and  growing  colder.  Shall  we  keep  up  one  of 
the  fires  ?  " 

Anno  said,  "  Better  not,  for  in  some  way  the 
enemies  might  have  come  back  from  the  other 
sugar-boiling,  and  if  they  saw  a  light  they  would 
come  over  to  the  Island." 

Tlie  boys  said  it  was  all  nonsense  for  the  girls 
to  be  afraid  of  the  dark,  and  although  it  was 
growing  pretty  cold,  that  was  because  they  were 
sitting  still ;  better  get  up  and  run  about. 

"  Seems  to  me,"  said  Ernest,  "  that  we  have 
had  enough  of  running  about  since  we  came 
here." 

And  Sam  Holmes  agreed  "  that  was  so,"  and 
suggested  that  they  had  better  all  huddle  up 
together  and  tell  stories  in  order  to  keep  each 
other  warm.  But  nobody  seemed  to  be  in  the 
humor  for  telling  stories,  and  it  tvas  cold. 

An  hour  passed  away.  Certainly  it  was  time 
for  the  boats  to  come  back,  and  the  dawn  had 
come  into  the  sky.  The  tired  children  were 
glad  to  hear  oars  striking  the  water.  Tom 
Murphy  and  Jack  O'Nory  ran  out  from  behind 
the  patch  of  bushes  which  screened  them  from 
the  bay  to  see  the  boats,  but  they  came  back 
trembling  with  excitement. 


22  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  There  is  just  one  boat,  and  there  are  six 
men  in  it." 

"  The  enemies,"  said  all  the  others. 

"  The  enemies,  and  what  shall  we  do  ? "  said 
Anno. 

Callecn  said,  "  Anno,  you  are  more  friglit- 
ened  than  any  of  the  rest  of  us,  and  you  are  the 
biggest." 

"  I  am  frightened,"  Anno  said. 

Tom  and  Jack  said  the  men  in  the  boat  were 
not  coming  down  to  the  place  from  which  their 
boats  had  pushed  off ;  they  were  going  to  land 
just  where  they  had  landed  when  they  started  to 
gather  in  the  sap. 

"  So  we  will  have  time  to  hide,"  said  Rosey 
Pink. 

"  Where  ?  " 

"  In  the  trees." 

"  Sure  enough,  in  the  trees,"  assented  all  the 
children. 

Then  it  was  decided  that  only  two  children 
should  go  into  each  tree,  so  as  not  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  men,  should  they  come  to 
this  place ;  and  all  those  rapid  climbers  soon 
arranged  themselves.  Rosey  Pink  insisted  upon 
climbing  into  the  same  tree  with  Tom  and  Jack, 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  23 

because  there  was  an  uneven  number,  and  it 
would  not  do  for  any  one  of  them  to  occupy  a 
tree  all  to  herself. 

"  Or  himself,"  said  Jack. 

"  Are  you  all  comfortable,"  asked  Anno  out  of 
her  tree,  where  she  was  perched  up  with  Mary. 

Jeanne  said  she  was  not  comfortable  ;  her  foot 
had  caught  in  a  crotch,  and  she  could  n't  get  it 
out,  and  most  likely  by  the  time  the  robbers  got 
there,  she  would  be  so  far  from  comfortable  that 
she  would  have  to  tumble  out  head  first. 

So  Ernest,  who  was  in  the  same  tree,  came 
down  a  notch,  and  pulled  Jeanne's  foot  out  of 
its  prison,  and  by  that  time  they  heard  the 
robbers  calling  to  each  other  and  saying, 
"Sold!" 

Jack  O'Nory  said,  "  They  will  soon  be  coming 
this  way,  so  no  more  laughing  or  complaining 
in  the  camp." 

Calleen  said,  "  What  if  we  should  sneeze  ?" 

Silence  fell  on  all  the  tenants  of  the  trees, 
and  they  heard  the  steps  of  "  the  enemies " 
coming  nearer  and  nearer. 

"Sam  Rattles  has  boiled  his  sugar,"  said  a 
voice  directly  beneath  Rosey  Pink,  "  for  here 
are  the  kettles." 


24  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  But  how  in  the  world  did  he  get  time  to 
empty  all  that  sap  and  boil  the  sugar  without 
helpers.  It  was  all  safe  enough  this  morning, 
for  I  reconnoitred  when  he  was  absent,  and  I 
made  sure  we  would  have  it  all  our  own  way  if 
we  could  get  here  by  this  liour  this  morning." 

"  Well,  you  see  that  evidently  he  has  had  it 
his  own  way." 

"  There  has  not  been  time  for  him  to  make 
the  sugar,"  said  another  voice,  "  and  the  fires 
are  almost  out." 

Then  the  six  men  came  forward  and  sur- 
rounded the  kettles. 

"  Only  syrup,"  said  one ;  "  pretty  thick  at 
that.  He  must  have  taken  it  all  away  in  the 
shape  of  syrup.  You  can  see  that  there  is  no 
sugar  here." 

"  A  rather  sharp  trick,"  drawled  out  another 
voice. 

The  strange  birds  in  the  trees  found  it  hard 
to  keep  quiet.  It  would  have  been  so  comfort- 
able to  have  a  hearty  laugh  at  the  expense  of 
"  the  enemies,"  of  whom,  nevertheless,  they 
were  deadly  afraid. 

"  Well,  I  don't  think  there  is  anything  to  be 
done  about  it,"  said  one  enemy. 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  25 


"  The  kettles,"  said  another. 

"  Yes,  to  be  sure,  the  kettles." 

"  And  they  are  very  good  ones." 

"  It  would  be  a  grand  revenge  to  take  them 
away  with  us." 

"  No  way  to  take  them." 

"That's  so;  the  boat  is  small  and  they  are 
unwieldy,  and  there  are  three  of  them." 

"  I  '11  tell  you  what :  let 's  hide  them,  and 
come  back  for  them  with  a  large  boat  to-night. 
We  can  sell  them  for  a  pretty  penny." 

"  Agreed.  All  lend  a  hand,  and  we  can  hide 
them." 

"  But  where  ? " 

"  To  be  sure,  where  ?  He  '11  be  back  by  sun- 
rise and  hunt  the  Island  for  them.  He  knows 
every  hole  and  corner  of  this  forest." 

The  drawley  voice  said,  "  Better  sink  them 
in  shallow  water." 

That  idea  appeared  to  be  pleasing  to  the 
whole  band  of  "  enemies,"  and  pretty  soon  they 
had  dispersed  and  were  sounding  the  water 
along  the  shore. 

"  I  have  a  very  bad  crick  in  my  neck,"  said 
Calleen.  "  I  shall  have  to  get  out  of  my  tree  in 
order  to  rub  it  out." 


26  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Calleen,  be  quiet,"  said  Ernest ;  "  they  will 
be  coming  back  immediately.'" 

But  Calleen  slipped  down  out  of  the  tree. 

"  Oh,  it  feels  delightful  to  be  on  land  again, 
and  I  certainly  am  going  to  follow  and  see  what 
place  they  are  choosing  for  the  kettles." 

All  the  other  children  commanded  her  to 
climb  into  her  tree  again,  but  in  vain.  Then 
Jack  O'Nory  said  :  — 

"  One  of  us  must  follow  her,  Tom ;  she  must 
not  be  allowed  to  go  alone.  I  will  go,  and  if  I 
need  your  help  I  will  whistle." 

Pretty  soon  Jack  joined  Calleen,  and  they 
went  creeping  through  the  bushes,  ready  to 
crouch  down  if  the  men  should  turn  and  look 
back. 

The  children  could  hear  their  voices  as  they 
walked  along  the  shore.  One  of  the  men 
said  :  — 

"  Here  is  a  good  place  ;  just  about  four  feet 
deep.  Rattles  will  never  think  of  looking  for 
them  here." 

"  Yes,"  said  another  voice.  "  This  is  a  jolly 
place,  and  we  can  easily  get  them  to-night.  It 
will  be  a  good  revenge  for  us,  and  a  good  prize, 
as  the  kettles  are  new  and  expensive.     But  I 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  27 

wish  we  had  come  sooner  and  emptied  out  his 
crop." 

"  Whom  do  you  suppose  he  could  find  to  help 
him  ?  for  he  has  not  engaged  any  of  the  men 
who  make  it  their  business." 

A  third  voice  said  :  — 

"  It  has  just  struck  me,  from  a  little  thing  I 
saw,  that  he  mai/  have  employed  children." 

"  Oh  !  nonsense,  Pete.  What  children  could 
possibly  do  such  work  as  that,  and  in  less  than 
a  day  ?     And  what  did  you  see  ?  " 

"  Just  nothing  but  a  little  bow  of  ribbon  that 
looks  as  if  it  had  come  off  of  a  girl's  hair." 

"  Pete  has  a  high  old  imagination,"  said 
another  man. 

Calleen  and  Jack  turned  very  quietly  and 
made  their  way  behind  the  screening  bushes 
back  to  the  open,  near  which  the  other  trees  full 
of  these  new  birds  were  standing. 

Calleen  climbed  up  like  a  squirrel  into  her 
place,  while  Jack  was  very  glad  to  get  back  to 
his.  There  was  not  much  time  for  talk,  for 
they  knew  that  the  men,  who  were  sounding  the 
water  with  a  long  pole,  would  be  returning  right 
away. 

It  was  very  silent  in  the  maple-sugar  camp. 


28  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

and  almost  immediately  the  enemies  came  back 
and  began  to  cany  away  the  kettles,  two  men 
carrying  a  kettle  between  them. 

"Where  is  your  'girl's  hair-ribbon,'  Pete?" 
said  one  of  them. 

"  There  it  is,  caught  on  the  bush  at  your  side." 

"  Sure  enough,  that 's  what  it  is,  and  it  smells 
as  sweet  as  any  flower  ;  but  I  can't  imagine  little 
girls  as  helping  in  this  kind  of  work.  If  Sam 
Rattles  could  n't  do  any  better  than  have  chil- 
dren to  help  him,  he  would  not  have  had  pails 
of  syrup  by  this  time.  I  just  suppose  some  little 
girl  of  his  acquaintance  was  along,  —  and  I 
suppose  a  sonsie  little  lassie,  —  but  who  were 
his  helpers  it  is  hard  to  say." 

Then  the  men  started  off  carrying  the  kettles, 
and  pretty  soon  the  children  heard  their  voices 
turning  inland  from  the  shore. 

"  They  have  drowned  the  kettles,"  said  Cal- 
leen,  "  and  they  are  crossing  the  Island  to  get  to 
the  place  where  they  left  their  boat.  Let 's  get 
down." 

"  No,"  said  Anno ;  "  wait  awhile,  one  of  them 
might  come  back." 

"  To  see  about  that  hair-ribbon,"  suggested 
Tom. 


IN  THE  MAPLE-SUGAR  FOREST  29 

"  Whose  was  it,  any  way  ?  "  said  Sam  Holmes. 

"  Mine,"  said  Mary ;  "  for  my  hair  is  all 
untied." 

Soon  the  children  heard  the  sound  of  oars, 
and  they  all  climbed  down  from  their  perches, 
and  began  praising  each  other  because  nobody 
had  coughed  or  sneezed,  and  so  got  the  whole 
party  into  trouble.  Their  anxiety  now  was 
lest  "  the  enemies  "  should  meet  the  returning 
boats ;  but  a  whole  hour  passed,  and  it  was  day- 
light before  Mr.  Rattles  and  his  party  returned. 

They  told  the  children  that  they  had  had 
trouble  getting  a  wagon  to  carry  the  syrup  up  to 
Sam  Rattles'  house,  as  they  had  landed  at  an  un- 
frequented place,  for  fear  of  attracting  attention. 

"  Good  that  you  did,  Mr.  Sam  Rattles,"  said 
Ernest,  "  for  '  the  enemy  '  has  been  here." 

Then  there  was  great  amazement  and  many 
questions,  and  a  great  deal  of  commendation 
bestowed  upon  the  children  for  their  presence 
of  mind  in  getting  into  the  trees  ;  and  Mr.  Sam 
Rattles  was  lavish  in  his  thanks  to  Calleen, 
through  whose  courage  they  were  now  able  to 
find  the  place  where  the  kettles  were  hidden ; 
but  the  other  Mr.  Rattles  shook  his  head  and 
said  that  Calleen  was  a  very  foolhardy  young 


30  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

lady,  and  what  would  the  people  on  the  Conti- 
nent say  if  they  could  know  of  the  danger  to 
which  the  children  had  been  subjected. 

The  whole  troop  set  off  to  inspect  the  place 
where  the  kettles  were  "  drowned,"  as  Calleen 
said,  and  everybody  was  eager  to  see  them  taken 
out  of  the  water  again. 

But  the  men  agreed  that  the  only  way  was  to 
row  two  of  the  boats  over  to  their  anchorage 
and  lift  them  in.  Mr.  Rattles  said  that  Remus 
might  bring  the  small  boat  around,  and  Sam 
Rattles  would  have  his  also  there,  and  there 
would  be  plenty  of  room  for  the  three  kettles ; 
but  he,  for  his  part,  was  going  now  to  take  his 
whole  party  home  in  the  sail-boat,  and  he  hoped 
this  night's  adventures  would  not  be  the  cause 
of  whooping-coughs  or  croups  or  "  locked  jaws," 
on  their  part. 

The  children  promised  to  steer  clear  of  all 
these  delightful  complaints,  but  they  insisted 
that  their  boat  should  go  round  with  the  others 
to  see  the  embarkation  of  the  kettles. 

When  they  started  for  home  Mr,  Sam  Rattles 
said :  — 

"  It  shall  be  a  beautiful  boat-house,  with  bath- 
houses attached." 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        31 


CHAPTER   III 

m  CHARGE   OF   THE   LIGHT-HOUSE 

"  T  WISH  we  were  in  the  sail-boat,"  said  Tom 

^  Murphy,  "  for  theu  we  might  go  across  the 
sea.     Rowing  is  slow  work." 

"  The  little  sail  is  right  here  under  ray  foot," 
said  Rosey  Pink,  who  was  managing  the  rudder. 
"  Remus  Rattles  left  it  in  here  the  day  he  went 
fishing  with  his  father  ;  you  know  he  never  takes 
anything  out." 

"  Good  for  you,  Rosey.  What  do  you  say, 
Jack  ?  Shall  we  hoist  the  little  sail  and  go 
across  the  sea  ?  " 

"  Of  course  we  shall.  Let  her  go  for  a  min- 
ute, Rosey,  while  we  put  it  up.  I  did  n't  even 
know  that  the  Rattles'  firm  oivned  a  sail  for  the 
row-boat." 

"  Mr,  Rattles  made  it  only  four  days  ago," 
said  Rosey  Pink. 

So  very  soon  these  mariners  hoisted  sail  and 
headed  out  to  sea,  —  a  sea  as  quiet  as  their 
own  harbor,  and  tinted  with  beautiful  changing 


32  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

colors;  overhead  the  blue  sky  with  its  sleepy 
little  white  clouds,  looking  so  good-liumored  that 
they  seemed  to  take  the  place  of  comrades  inter- 
ested in  the  doings  of  these  sailors,  and  ready 
for  their  share  of  whatever  should  be  going  on. 

So  on  and  on  over  the  sea  they  sailed,  and 
pretty  soon  they  saw  in  the  distance  a  light- 
house, and  set  their  sail  for  it.  As  they  came 
towards  it,  Rosey  Pink  said,  "  I  don't  think  it 
is  exactly  the  Eddystone  Light-house,  for  it  is 
not  very  much  like  the  pictures,  but  I  know  it  is 
some  celebrated  light-house."  And  the  boys 
agreed  that  it  must  be  a  celebrated  one ;  it 
looked  as  if  it  might  be  celebrated. 

Sailing  along  in  the  smooth  water,  pretty 
soon  they  reached  the  little  pier  and  landed, 
but  nobody  came  out  from  the  light-house  to 
see  about  them,  so  they  moored  their  boat  and 
made  their  way  round  till  they  came  to  an  open 
door,  which  they  entered.  A  woman  was  iron- 
ing, and  a  little  girl  was  sitting  beside  the  iron- 
ing-table watching  her  —  a  quite  small  little 
girl,  much  younger  than  Rosey  Pink. 

"  Well,  you  did  give  me  a  start,"  said  the 
woman,  raising  her  eyes  from  her  work  and  set- 
ting the  iron  down  on  its  rest.     "  Who  in  the 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        33 

world  could  dream  of  three  children  suddenly 
walking  into  a  light-house,  and  without  giving 
any  notice  of  their  coming.  Did  you  fall  out  of 
the  sky?" 

"No,"  said  Jack  O'Nory.  "We  rose  out  of 
the  sea,  but  no  one  came  to  the  front  door  to 
meet  us,  so  we  wandered  round  to  this  door." 

The  woman  said  that  people  who  lived  in 
light-houses  never  luere  in  the  habit  of  expecting 
visitors.  Since  they  had  come,  they  were  all 
welcome  to  a  seat ;  but  as  for  her,  she  was  too 
busy  to  pay  them  much  attention.  Then  she 
sent  her  little  girl,  whom  she  called  Isadora,  to 
call  her  father. 

When  the  little  girl  came  back  with  her 
father,  he  appeared  to  be  much  pleased.  He 
said,  "  Bridget,  the  fates  are  with  us  to-day  in- 
stead of  being  against  us,  as  they  generally  are, 
for  I  really  wa"S  greatly  perplexed,  casting  about 
in  my  mind  how  I  could  possibly  feel  it  right  to 
go  away  and  leave  the  place  unprotected." 

"  Unprotected,"  said  his  wife.  "  You  could 
leave  the  place  a  year  without  any  one  coming 
near  it,  except  the  Light-house  Board." 

"  And  they  might  appear  this  very  day,  for 
all  we  know." 

s 


34  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  No  fear  of  that ;  it  is  n't  six  weeks  since 
their  last  visit,  and  they  are  not  due  for  another 
six  weeks.  Perhaps  you  think  it  such  an  invit- 
ing place  that  they  may  come  unexpectedly  on  a 
picnic." 

"  Well,  that  is  neither  here  nor  there,  but  you 
see  (turning  to  the  children)  we  are  obliged  to 
go  away  to-day  for  a  little  while.  My  wife's 
grandfather  has  just  died,  and  has  left  everything 
he  owned  to  her.  We  must  be  at  the  funeral, 
and  we  must  be  present  at  the  reading  of  the 
will.  We  will  come  back  before  dark,  or,  at 
any  rate,  /will.  I  am  not  sure  about  the  wife 
and  daughter.  If  you  children  could  stay  until 
I  come  back  it  would  be  a  great  kindness  to 
me." 

The  children  all  said  that  to  stay  would  be 
about  the  most  pleasant  thing  they  could  pos- 
sibly do.  They  had  never  been  anywhere  near 
a  light-house,  except  on  the  outside,  and  then 
only  a  very  small  one;  and  to  really  live  in  a 
light-house  for  an  hour  or  two,  and  go  up  the 
stairs  and  see  the  lantern,  and  look  away  out  to 
sea,  would  be  a  delightful  thing  to  do. 

"  What  would  you  say  to  a  year  or  two  in  a 
light-house  ?  "  asked  the  woman. 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        35 

"  That  would  be  such  a  beautiful  thing  that  it 
could  never  happen,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

The  woman  smiled  and  went  on  ironing.  It 
was  a  pretty,  thin,  white  dress  for  Isadora  that 
she  was  at  work  on. 

"  You  see,"  she  said,  "  it  is  not  necessary  for 
a  child  to  wear  black  at  a  funeral,  and  after  all  it 
is  only  a  great-grandfather  in  her  case.  White 
will  do  very  well,  and  be  sweet  and  cool,  for,  of 
course,  it  will  be  warmer  there  on  the  farm  than 
it  is  on  this  wide  ocean.  I  shall  wear  black  my- 
self, because  I  have  a  cousin  who  will  lend  me  a 
dress ;  but,  you  see,  I  didn't  know  my  grandfather 
very  well.  I  was  married  very  young,  and  have 
lived  in  light-houses  ever  since, — that  is  my  hus- 
band's profession,  light-houses.  Gracious,  won't 
it  seem  good  to  live  on  the  land  again,  and  see 
flowers  growing  and  hear  the  birds  singing." 

"  Shall  we  have  birds  ? "  asked  the  little  girl. 

"  Birds  and  flowers,  and  trees  growing  right 
up  out  of  the  ground,  and  gardens  full  of  vege- 
tables and  fruits,  and  all  of  it  ours,  Isadora." 

Isadora  kept  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  little  white 
dress,  which  was  now  almost  ready  to  be  taken 
from  the  ironing-table. 

"  She  is  not  used  to  dressing  up,"  said  her 


36  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

mother  to  Rosey  Pink.  "  People  don't  need 
much  dressing  in  light-houses." 

"  I  suppose  they  don't,"  said  Rosey ;  "  and  I 
know  you  must  be  very  happy  even  if  your  grand- 
father lias  died.  But  what  will  you  do  ?  Will 
you  come  back  to  the  light-house  ? " 

"  Only  to  pack  up,"  said  Isadora's  mother. 
"  Everything  is  mine.  The  whole  beautiful  farm, 
and  he  has  written  his  letter  of  resignation  to 
the  Light-house  Board  already.  He  began  to 
write  it  very  early,  and  we  will  put  it  in  the 
post-office  when  we  land  ;  so  that  matter  will  be 
settled.  And,  oh !  I  am  so  glad,  so  glad  that 
we  will  not  have  to  live  here  any  longer." 

So  very  soon  these  happy  people  were  ready 
to  go,  and  they  invited  the  strangers  to  sit  down 
to  luncheon  with  them  ;  but  there  were  neither 
fruits  nor  vegetables  nor  flowers  on  the  table, 
and  the  children  began  to  think  that  if  they 
lived  always  in  a  light-house  they  would  perhaps 
be  just  as  glad  to  get  away  as  the  woman  who 
had  been  ironing  was. 

She  said  again,  while  sitting  at  the  table : 
"  Oh  !  my  heart  is  overwhelmed  to  think  of  hear- 
ing the  birds  sing,  and  of  smelling  the  red 
roses." 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        37 

Her  husband  said,  as  they  started,  "  I  will  be 
sure  to  be  back  before  sunset ;  "  so  the  new  ten- 
ants saw  them  safely  off,  and  observed  that  their 
own  little  boat  was  moored  securely  to  the  pier, 
and  then  they  went  back  to  explore  and  to  run 
up  the  stone  steps  and  take  a  kind  of  awed 
notice  of  the  immense  lantern,  and  look  out  of 
the  small  windows,  beneath  which  lay  the  wide, 
shoreless  ocean. 

Rosey  Pink  said  after  awhile  that  she  could 
easily  see  how  this  place  might  be,  after  all,  a 
little  lonely  ;  and  the  boys  said  that  it  would  be 
better  if  they  could  all  get  into  their  boat  and  sail 
about  awhile,  —  but  that,  of  course,  they  could 
not  do,  as  they  had  been  left  in  charge.  After 
all  it  would  be  rather  dull  if  it  was  not  that  they 
had  each  other,  and  they  wished  the  other  chil- 
dren had  come  with  them. 

The  light-house  man  had  told  them  all  about 
the  great  light,  and  of  how  necessary  it  was  that 
every  night  that  light  should  shine  across  the 
sea,  as  there  were  sunken  rocks  all  about.  "  In- 
deed," he  had  said,  "  this  is  the  most  dangerous 
place  in  all  the  ocean,  and  the  most  important 
light-house,  for  so  many  ships  pass  near;  and 
but  for  this  light  they  might  steer  a  little  out 


38  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

of  their  course,  and  everybody  on  board  would 
perish." 

As  it  began  to  be  near  sundown,  the  children 
became  anxious  for  the  return  of  the  keeper. 
They  went  up  to  examine  the  lantern  again,  and 
Rosey  Pink  said  :  ^- 

"  What  if  the  light-house  man  should  be 
drowned  and  not  come  back." 

"  He  won't  be  drowned,"  said  Jack  O'Nory ; 
"  but  then  it  might  happen  that  he  could  not  get 
back,  and  what  in  the  world  should  we  do  ?" 

"  Light  the  lantern,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

"  Easy  saying  '  light  the  lantern.'  Do  you 
know  how  to  hght  it  ? " 

"That's  not  my  business,"  said  Rosey  Pink, 
"  it 's  the  business  of  you  boys." 

Each  moment  that  passed  made  their  anxiety 
greater,  and  these  three  light-house  keepers 
took  observations  every  minute  or  two  to  see  if 
it  was  possible  to  discover  the  management  of 
this  revolving  light,  or  how  to  get  at  it  in  case 
its  keeper  was  detained. 

Soon  the  sun  had  set,  and  still  no  sign  of  a 
small  boat  appeared  on  the  darkening  sea. 

The  children  determined  that  (as  in  a  very 
little   while  the  lie,ht  must  show  out  from  the 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        39 


high  tower,  because  if  it  did  not  all  the  ships 
that  came  along  would  be  wrecked)  they  must 
certainly  find  other  means  of  providing  a  warn- 
ing for  the  sailors  on  the  sea. 

Of  course,  the  lamp  on  the  table  in  the  front 
room  must  be  brought  up,  but  that  would  be  of 
little  use.     So  every  moment  the  anxiety  grew. 

Rosey  Pink  could  almost  see  the  ships  going 
down  with  all  their  passengers  and  crews,  and 
Jack  O'Nory  kept  staring  out  in  the  rapidly 
growing  darkness  to  discern  any  ships  which 
might  be  warned  off  by  shouts  and  prayers  that 
they  would  turn  another  way. 

Tom  Murphy  was  poking  about  in  a  kind  of 
lumber  room,  which  he  found  downstairs,  and 
from  which  he  unearthed  some  pieces  of  lumber, 
and,  better  than  all,  he  thought,  a  number  of  old 
corn-cobs. 

"  They  will  make  a  fine  old  light,"  he  said  to 
himself. 

In  the  meantime  the  sea  became  quite  rough, 
and  the  waves  began  to  beat  against  the  founda- 
tion of  the  light-house  in  a  very  unpleasant 
way.  He  opened  the  kitchen  door  and  looked 
out  upon  the  troubled  water,  from  which  the 
last  vestige  of  light  from  the  setting  sun  had 


40  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

disappeared.  In  a  few  minutes  the  others 
joined  him. 

"I  say,  Jack  O'Norj,"  said  Tom,  "here's 
a  go." 

Eosey  Pink  agreed  witli  Tom  that  it  was  "  a 

go." 

Jack  O'Nory  was  very  quiet.  He  seemed  to 
be  thinking  of  the  people  who  "  go  down  to  the 
sea  in  ships."  But  after  awhile  he  said  that 
any  way  they  had  better  take  the  lamp  from 
the  table  in  the  front  room  and  carry  it  upstairs. 
So  they  did  this  ;  and  when  they  had  set  it  upon 
a  projection  in  the  tower,  and  come  down  again, 
Tom  Murphy  showed  them  all  the  bits  of  lum- 
ber he  had  discovered  and  the  old  corn-cobs, 
and  the  three  of  them  became  quite  interested, 
and  believed  that  after  all  they  could  succeed 
in  making  a  light  which  would  be  ^a  warning 
to  all  the  mariners  on  the  sea. 

So  they  took  up  a  large  preserving-kettle  full 
of  corn-cobs,  and  they  also  carried  armfuls  of 
old  sticks,  for  they  agreed  that  as  there  was  not 
a  bit  of  wood  in  the  composition  of  the  light- 
house, it  would  make  no  difference  about  the 
smoke,  —  anything  so  that  there  could  be  light 
enough  for  the  people  on  the  ships  to  know  that 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        41 

it  was  a  -warning,  and  tliat  they  must  keep  out 
of  tlie  way  of  danger. 

So  they  put  some  of  the  corn-cobs  into  the 
kettle  and  set  fire  to  them,  and  they  did  make 
a  smoke,  —  indeed,  so  much  smoke  that  the 
children  had  to  sit  on  the  stairs  and  keep  wip- 
ing the  tears  out  of  their  eyes. 

Rosey  said  she  had  better  go  down  for  more 
corn-cobs.  While  she  was  down  there  a  small 
steam-yacht  landed,  and  three  gentlemen  got 
out  of  it.  They  too  came  round  to  the  kit- 
chen door,  and  Rosey,  who  had  hoped  to  see 
the  light-house  keeper,  stood  there  with  aston- 
ished eyes. 

"  Young  lady,"  said  one  of  the  gentlemen, 
after  a  little  hesitation,  "  why  is  there  no  light 
in  the  tower,  and  what  is  all  this  smell  of 
smoke  ? " 

"  There  is  no  light  in  the  tower,"  she  an- 
swered, "  because  we  do  not  know  anything 
about  the  lantern,  and  we  are  trying  to  make  a 
light,  but  it  will  smoke." 

"  We  are  the  Light-house  Board,"  said  another 
gentleman,  "  and  we  must  go  up  and  see  about 
it,  but  first  let  us  be  sure  that  our  boat  is  fast." 

So  while  they  went  out  to  see  the  captain  of 


42  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

their  boat,  Rosey  Pink  ran  up  to  the  upper  steps 
where  Tom  and  Jack  were  sitting,  with  such 
tearful,  miserable  eyes  that  they  could  not  open 
them  to  look  at  her. 

"  The  Light-house  Board  is  coming  up  the 
stairs,"  said  Rosey  breathlessly. 

"  Is  it  a  board  that  we  can  set  fire  to  ?  "  asked 
Tom. 

"  No,  it  is  three  gentlemen." 

"  Are  they  mermen  ?  "  said  Jack. 

"  I  told  you  that  they  are  the  Light-house 
Board,  and  they  are  coming  up  to  see  about 
the  lantern." 

"  Nobody  can  see  the  lantern  with  this  smoke," 
said  Tom,  who  had  become  too  much  discour- 
aged on  account  of  the  smoke  to  care  about  the 
lantern  or  anything  else  for  the  present. 

"  But  they  are  coming  right  up,"  said  Rosey, 
pressing  her  handkerchief  into  her  eyes;  "so 
let  us  slip  down  while  they  are  talking  to  their 
captain,  and  leave  it  to  them  to  light  the  lan- 
tern.    I  suppose  they  know  how." 

The  children  immediately  all  stumbled  down 
the  stairs  and  shut  themselves  into  the  front  room 
while  they  tried  to  get  the  smoke  out  of  their 
eyes,  and  after  a  while  they  heard  the  "  Board  " 


IX  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        43 


going  upstairs  and  exclaiming  and  complaining. 
Almost  immediately  they  came  down  again,  and 
one  of  them  said  to  the  others  :  — 

"  What  do  you  suppose  has  hecome  of  that 
young  girl  who  was  here  a  few  minutes  ago  ? 
If  she  went  up  to  the  lantern-tower  she  is  proba- 
bly smothered  by  this  time,  and  what  are  we 
going  to  do  about  her  ?  " 

Rosey  immediately  stepped  into  the  kitchen  ; 
she  said,  "  We  all  came  down,  because  the 
smoke  is  so  strong  up  there." 

"  Who  is  all  ? " 

"  Tom  Murphy,  Jack  O'Nory,  and  I." 

"  Can  you  tell  us  the  cause  of  the  smoke  ?  " 

"  Corn-cobs." 

"  Corn-cobs  ? " 

"  To  make  a  light,"  said  Rosey.  "  We  don't 
know  how  to  light  the  lantern." 

"  Who  are  you,  anyway  ?  " 

"  Strangers,"  said  Rosey. 

The  whole  Board  looked  perplexed. 

"The  light-house  keeper  has  gone  away  to 
a  funeral,"  added  Rosey,  "  and  we  are  keeping 
the  light-house  for  him.  Perhaps,  —  I  think,  — 
you  had  better  go  up  again.  You  may  know 
how  to  manage  the  lantern." 


44  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

The  light-house  Board  went  up  and  im- 
mediately came  down,  blowing  its  nose  and 
wiping  its  eyes  and  clearing  its  throat  very 
vigorously. 

The  boys  had  now  come  into  the  kitchen  and 
had  been  able  to  open  their  eyes  and  look  about, 
and  to  be  filled  with  consternation  on  account 
of  the  danger  to  the  ships. 

"  We  have  been  left  in  charge,"  said  Jack 
O'Nory,  "  and  it  is  a  dreadful  thing  that  we 
should  not  have  known  what  to  do." 

"  And  if  we  did  know  what  to  do,"  said  Tom, 
'•  we  could  not  do  it  with  all  this  smoke." 

After  awhile  the  Board  too  began  to  look 
about. 

"  What  is  the  meaning  of  it  all  ?  "  they  asked. 

Jack  O'Nory  said  that  the  light-house  keeper 
had  gone  away  to  a  funeral  and  had  left  them 
in  charge,  but  he  had  promised  to  come  back 
before  sunset,  and  so  had  not  shown  them  what 
to  do  about  the  light. 

"  He  shall  be  dismissed,"  said  the  Board. 

The  children  did  not  know  whether  it  was 
more  honorable  to  say  that  he  had  taken  his 
resignation  away  with  him  or  not  to  say  it. 
They  said  nothing. 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        45 

"  And  now  what  is  to  be  done,"  the  Board 
said  to  each  other,  "about this  infernal  smoke?" 

"  It  is  nothing  but  corn-cobs,"  said  Tom, 
"  and  it  will  soon  go  out.  We  thought  it  would 
make  a  bright  light,  but  it  made  a  smoke." 

"  I  should  think  it  did,"  said  the  Board. 

Just  then  there  was  a  noise  outside,  and  all 
the  other  children  hurried  into  the  room.  Cal- 
leen  and  Mary  and  Jeanne  began  to  hug  the 
three  light-house  people,  and  to  exclaim  that 
they  thought  they  had  lost  them,  and  were  full 
of  trouble  about  it,  while  Ernest  and  Sam  Holmes 
drew  up  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  boys  and 
told  how  good  Mr.  Rattles  had  been,  when  they 
all  became  anxious,  and  how  he  and  Remus  also 
had  determined  that  they  must  come  out  on 
the  ocean  and  hunt  them  up,  and  how  delighted 
they  were  when  they  saw  the  boat  fastened  to 
the  pier,  for  though  there  was  another  boat 
also  there,  there  was  no  mistaking  the  one  that 
belonged  to  the  Island  Impossible. 

Then  the  children  all  turned  and  made  curt- 
sies and  bows  to  the  Light-house  Board,  for 
Rosey  had  introduced  them,  saying  :  "  These  are 
the  children,"  and  then,  "  and  these  gentlemen 
are  the  Light-house  Board  !  " 


46  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

The  gentlemen  appeared  to  be  very  much 
pleased,  but  in  the  meantime  Mr.  Rattles  had 
passed  through  the  kitchen  and  up  the  stairs 
unobserved  by  anybody,  and  immediately  such 
a  light  shone  out  over  the  sea,  that  everybody 
in  the  room  cried  out,  "  Oh !  oh !  "  and  Mr. 
Rattles  came  down  with  very  watery  red  eyes 
and  the  kettle  of  smoking  corn-cobs,  which  he 
quietly  threw  into  the  sea,  and  the  three  children 
who  had  been  so  anxious  began  to  laugh  and  to 
cry  in  such  a  manner  that  everybody  had  to 
comfort  them. 

The  Light-house  Board  looked  on  with  ob- 
servant and  interested  eyes,  while  these  young 
inhabitants  of  this  old  world  comforted  and 
heartened  and  cherished  the  three  of  their  num- 
ber who  had  suffered  such  anxiety,  and  who 
now,  in  the  reaction  from  their  very  real  grief, 
seemed  to  need  the  loving  sympathy  which  their 
comrades  were  bestowing  upon  them.  And 
there  was  a  moistness  in  the  older  eyes,  which 
was  not  caused  by  tbe  smoke  from  the  corn- 
cobs. 

All  the  children  looked  upon  Mr.  Rattles  as  a 
hero,  whose  wisdom  and  presence  of  mind  had, 
in  a  moment,   made  everybody  so   happy,  and 


IN  CHARGE   OF  THE  LIGHT-HOUSE        47 

had  probably  saved  the  lives  of  hundreds  of 
passengers  and  crews,  whose  ships  were  sailing 
in  these  dangerous  waters. 

The  Light-house  Board  shook  hands  heartily 
with  Mr.  Rattles,  and  said  that  it  never  could  be 
thankful  enough  that  the  children  had  come,  for 
if  they  had  not  done  so,  he,  Mr.  Rattles,  would 
not  have  felt  obliged  to  come  in  search  of  them, 
and  as  they,  the  Board,  did  not  know  a  thing 
about  managing  the  lantern,  there  would  have 
been  great  danger  to  the  ships,  and  great  blame 
to  the  Board. 

Mr.  Rattles  said  that  he  must  now  take  all 
these  youngsters  home  with  him,  and  the  Board 
promised  Tom  and  Jack  and  Rosey  that  it  would 
stay  until  the  keeper  should  come  home,  which 
would  probably  be  somewhere  in  the  middle  of 
the  night,  and  in  answer  to  a  few  words  which 
Rosey  had  ventured,  one  of  them  said  with  a 
smile  :  "  Yes,  he  supposed  they  would  have  to 
be  lenient  to  the  keeper,  as  people  did  n't  often 
have  to  go  to  funerals,  especially  if  they  lived 
all  their  lives  in  light-houses." 

So  away  again,  sitting  in  the  boat  hand  in 
hand,  to  the  beautiful  Island  Impossible. 


48  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


CHAPTER  IV 

AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT 

npOM  MURPHY  and  Jack  O'Nory  had  started 
off  on  an  expedition  in  the  sail-boat.  Mr. 
Rattles  said :  — 

"  And  where  would  you  like  to  go  on  this 
bout?" 

"  What  do  you  think  about  it,  Jack  ? "  said 
Tom. 

Jack  thought  it  was  a  queer  business  that  they 
had  never  been  to  a  South  American  port,  —  so 
it  was  decided  to  sail  to  a  South  American  port, 
and  they  sailed,  —  and  pretty  soon  they  arrived. 

But  as  their  boat  entered  the  harbor,  and 
landed  at  the  wharf,  they  noticed  that  there 
was  great  confusion,  and  a  crowd  of  people  who, 
as  soon  as  they  saw  them,  began  to  call  out  and 
to  shout  at  each  other  in  a  language  that  neither 
one  of  the  boys,  nor  indeed  Mr.  Rattles,  under- 
stood at  all. 

Pretty  soon  there  was  a  division  among  the 
people,  —  some  running  one  way,  some  the  other 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  49 

way,  —  and  after  a  while  the  crowd  seemed  to 
separate  to  make  way  for  a  man  accompanied 
by  two  or  three  others  who  appeared  to  be  con- 
voying him  through  the  pressing  multitude. 

"  They  are  coming  right  towards  us,  Tom, 
and  everybody  is  bowing  and  scraping,  and  as 
they  appear  to  be  looking  at  us  all  the  time 
they  are  doing  it,  I  am  embarrassed,  —  what 
about  you  ? " 

"  I  am  a  little  embarrassed  myself,"  said 
Tom,  "  but  it  would  never  do  to  let  them  see 
that,  —  I  guess  we  had  better  begin  to  bow- 
ourselves." 

So  these  boys  began  to  bow  and  scrape  and 
put  their  hands  on  their  hearts,  just  as  this 
other  strange  company  was  doing,  and  they  felt 
encouraged  to  go  on  in  this  line  of  action,  when 
they  saw  that  it  pleased  the  whole  crowd,  which 
had  greatly  increased  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
boat. 

Mr.  Rattles,  too,  became  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  the  scene,  and  he  began  to  bow  and 
make  contortions  of  his  face,  which  were  in- 
tended to  express  pleasure,  but  which  certainly 
might  have  suggested  to  the  onlookers  the  belief 
that  he  had  a  very  bad  pain  in  his  stomach. 

4 


50  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

When  the  crowd  reached  their  hoat,  the  man 
who  had  been  convoyed  to  the  spot  said  :  — 

"  I  am  the  court  interpreter." 

"How  do  you  do,  Mr.  Interpreter?"  said 
Tom  and  Jack,  holding  out  their  hands  in  a  very 
friendly  way. 

Then  the  whole  multitude  began  to  make  a 
great  noise  which  sounded  like  cheering,  and 
everybody  took  off  his  hat.  Of  course  Tom 
and  Jack  took  off  their  hats  and  Mr.  Rattles 
took  off  his. 

"There  has  been  a  revolution,"  said  the  in- 
terpreter. 

"  Is  that  so,"  said  Tom. 

Jack  suggested  that  a  revolution  was  a  bad  busi- 
ness and  a  very  breaking  up  kind  of  business. 

"  No,  it  is  a  good  business,"  said  the  interpre- 
ter,—  "we  have  had  a  king  and  a  queen,  —  but 
we  have  put  them  down  and  intend  pretty  soon 
to  take  off  their  heads.  Before  we  do  that  we 
must  form  a  new  government,  and  we  intend 
that  it  shall  be  a  republic." 

The  boys  said  that  a  republic  was  the  best 
kind  of  government. 

"  And  we  did  not  know  whom  to  choose  for  a 
President,"  said  the  interpreter. 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  51 

Each  time  the  interpreter  spoke  it  appeared 
to  be  by  the  direction  of  a  proud-looking  person 
who  stood  close  at  his  side  in  the  midst  of  all 
this  confusion.  Jack  said  that  he  thought  there 
must  be  a  great  many  people  from  whom  to 
choose  a  President. 

"  That  is  not  so,"  said  the  interpreter,  "  we 
had  not  much  of  a  choice,  for  nobody  trusts 
anybody  else  —  but  this  is  the  Feast  Day  of 
San  Antonio,  who  always  finds  things  which 
people  are  looking  for,  and  he  has  sent  you  to 
our  shores." 

"  Were  you  looking  for  us  ? "  said  Jack 
O'Nory. 

"  We  were  looking  for  a  President."  Tom 
and  Jack  both  said  "  Oh." 

"And  it  appears  that  we  were  looking  for 
you,"  continued  the  interpreter,  "  for  you  have 
come,  and  you  are  to  be  our  President." 

"  Which  one  of  us  ?  "  asked  Jack. 

The  interpreter  listened  a  moment  to  some- 
thing the  high  personage  standing  beside  him 
was  saying,  then  he  answered :  — 

"  You  are  so  young  and  so  small  that  it  will 
take  two  of  you  to  make  one  good  President,  so 
you  are  both  to  be  FJresident." 


f)2  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Let  us  understand  you,  Mr.  Interpreter," 
said  Tom  Murphy,  — "  is  each  one  of  us  to  be 
half  of  a  President  ? " 

"That  is  just  the  way  of  it,"  answered  the 
interpreter. 

"  That  will  suit  us  very  well,"  said  Jack 
O'Nory. 

Almost  before  he  had  finished  saying  these 
few  words,  some  one  had  come  forward  and 
mounted  him  very  high  on  his  shoulder,  while 
another  gold-laced  man  had  done  the  same 
by  Tom  Murphy.  These  two  high  officers  ap- 
peared to  be  exceedingly  high-shouldered,  and 
the  boys  began  their  unusual  kind  of  ride  up 
through  a  very  talkative  populace  from  the 
wharf  into  the  town,  while  Mr.  Rattles  was  also 
convoyed  with  them  towards  the  same  place, 
but  he  was  allowed  to  walk  on  his  own  feet  and 
was  evidently  more  comfortable,  and  was  ob- 
viously regarded  as  being  not  of  the  same  rank 
as  these  two  halves  of  a  President  of  a  new 
republic. 

Pretty  soon,  accompanied  by  the  shouts  and 
cheers  of  the  population,  which  noises  were 
really  needed  to  keep  up  the  spirit  of  the 
boys,  they  arrived  at  a  palace,  and  were  carried 


AT  A    SOUTH   AMERICAN    PORT  53 

—  still  on  the  shoulders  of  their  magnificently 
arrayed  beasts  of  burden  —  right  into  an  im- 
mense and  imposing  hall  of  State,  and  up  to 
a  dais  on  which  stood  two  thrones ;  but  the 
bearers  stood  still  a  few  moments  while  some 
attendants  stepped  forward  and  rolled  the 
thrones  away  from  their  place,  throwing  them 
from  the  dais,  as  if  they  were  pieces  of  furniture 
which  had  gone  out  of  fashion,  —  which,  it  ap- 
peared, they  had. 

Then  some  chairs  of  State  were  brought  in, 
and  pretty  soon  the  boys  found  themselves 
seated  in  them,  —  very  well  satisfied  to  come 
down  from  their  high  and  precarious  positions. 

Then  an  officer  in  a  fine  uniform  came  for- 
ward and  stood  by  the  interpreter.  He  began 
to  speak,  and  as  he  spoke  the  interpreter  took 
every  word  from  his  lips  and  translated  it  into 
English,  so  that  this  new  double-headed  Presi- 
dent could  understand  everything  that  was  said. 
In  the  meantime.  Jack  had  said,  very  low  :  — 

"  Tom,  I  wish  we  were  in  the  boat  again,"  to 
which  Tom  answered  :  — 

"  I  wish  we  were  at  this  moment  landing 
at  our  wharf  on  the  shore  of  The  Island 
Impossible,  but  I  guess  we  had  better  pretend 


54  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

to  be  pleased,  for  if  we  appear  not  to  like 
their  gQings  on,  these  funny  people  may  make 
us  prisoners." 

The  interpreter  went  on  to  say  that  they  had 
come  to  the  conclusion  to  have  a  republican 
form  of  government,  and,  having  arrived  at 
that  conclusion,  they  had  that  morning  deposed 
their  king,  and  as  they  did  not  know  what 
better  to  do  with  him,  they  had  made  up  their 
minds  to  take  off  his  head  and  also  the  heads 
of  all  his  advisers,  also  of  the  queen  and  her 
maids  of  honor  ;  and  that  as  soon  as  the  new 
President  had  become  somewhat  accustomed 
to  the  chairs  of  state,  —  and  the  people  who 
were  thronging  into  the  hall,  and  thronging 
out  again,  had  become  accustomed  to  the  sight 
of  this  new  form  of  government,  —  they  would 
have  the  prisoners  brought  in  so  that  the  new 
President  should  pass  sentence  of  decapitation. 

Jack  said  to  Tom,  quite  low,  "I  feel  very 
uncomfortable." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  Tom. 

Then  they  brought  in  the  prisoners,  but  what 
was  the  astonishment  of  this  twin  President,  to 
see,  advancing  with  the  King  and  Queen  —  with 
pale  faces  and  eyes  cast  down  —  Rosey  Pink 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  55 

and  Mary  and  Calleen  and  Jeanne.  These  girls 
did  not  raise  their  eyes  at  all  to  look  at  the  new- 
President  ;  at  that  moment  the  interpreter  was 
called  away  —  the  President  learned  afterwards 
that  the  interruption  was  caused  by  the  fact 
that  the  crowd  who  had  accompanied  Mr,  Rat- 
tles to  the  door  did  not  know  what  to  do  with 
him,  as  they  could  not  understand  a  word  he 
said,  and  he  evidently  could  not  understand 
them;  for  that  reason  the  interpreter  was 
called,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  gotten  out  of 
hearing,  Tom  said :  — 

"Rosey  Pink,  and  you  other  girls,  don't 
look  frightened,  and  don't  look  at  us  as  if  you 
had  ever  seen  us  before  ;  Jack  and  I  will  look 
at  each  other  and  speak,  and  you  girls  must 
look  at  each  other,  —  not  at  us,  —  and  answer." 
So  Tom  looked  very  severely  at  Jack  and 
said :  — 

"  How  in  the  name  of  sense  did  you  get 
here?" 

And  Rosey  Pink,  who  had  given  a  great  start 
when  she  heard  Tom's  voice,  stared  at  the  other 
girls,  who  had  also  given  starts,  and  said  :  — 

"  And  how  in  the  name  of  sense  did  i/ou  get 
here  ?  " 


56  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  That  is  neither  here  nor  there,"  said  Tom, 
with  his  eyes  fixed  on  Jack,  —  "  go  on." 

"  We  were  out  bathing,  and  Ernest  and  Sam 
were  with  us,  swimming  about,  but  we  girls 
took  the  row-boat  that  Remus  Rattles  attends 
to  —  " 

"  I  noticed  that  it  was  gone,"  said  Jack  to 
Tom. 

"  And  we  amused  ourselves  pushing  it  before 
us  and  swimming  —  then  we  thought  we  would 
get  into  it,  and  we  did  —  and  let  it  float  until  it 
had  gotten  round  the  point  where  the  waves 
were  very  rough.  So  we  began  to  look  for  the 
oars,  but  there  was  not  an  oar  to  be  found.  I 
don't  know  what  Remus  could  have  done  with 
them,"  continued  Rosey,  looking  strenuously  at 
Mary. 

"  You  'd  better  not  stop  for  meditation, 
Rosey,"  said  Calleen ;  "  the  interpreter  will  be 
back  in  a  minute  —  " 

"  We  were  in  very  rough  waters,"  continued 
Rosey,  changing  the  position  of  her  eyes  so 
that  Jeanne  must  become  her  chief  audience, 
"and  we  did  not  feel  that  it  would  be  quite 
safe  to  try  to  swim  to  shore, —  then  we  all  felt 
alarmed,  though  Calleen  declared  that  our  only 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  57 


safety  was  in  forsaking  the  boat  and  swimming 
for  the  shore,  but  you  know  Calleen  is  very  rash." 

Jeanne  assented,  she  said,  "  Calleen  is  very 
rash." 

"  Go  on,"  said  Jack,  speaking,  apparently  to 
Tom. 

"  We  did  go  on,"  continued  Rosey,  "  till  we 
were  quite  out  at  sea  and  were  very  much 
frightened,  —  we  thought  of  Ernest  and  Sam 
swimming  about  in  the  harbor  free  from  anxiety 
about  us,  for  though  they  had  seen  us  start  off, 
pushing  the  boat,  I  suppose  they  thought  we 
would  get  in  and  come  back.  They  had  no 
idea  that  Remus  Rattles  was  probably  lying 
asleep  on  the  oars,  —  and  then  we  thought  of 
you  two  boys  who  had  just  pushed  off  from 
shore  in  the  boat  with  Mr.  Rattles,  with  all 
sails  up,  and  we  began  to  say  our  prayers  —  and 
after  we  had  said  our  prayers,  we  saw  a  ship, 
and  they  sent  out  a  little  yawl  which  took  us  in 
and  brought  us  to  the  ship,  and  we  all  sailed  for 
this  place  and  landed ;  but  you  had  better 
speak  now,  Mary,  for  the  people  will  think  it 
queer  that  I  should  be  telling  such  a  long 
story." 

So   Mary  said,  "  And  we   were  brought   up 


58  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

to  this  palace  and  were  maids  of  honor  to  the 
Queen,  so  the  interpreter  told  us." 

"  The  Queen  also  told  us  so,"  said  Calleen,  — 
"  she  can  speak  English." 

Then  Mary  continued  :  — 

"  And  afterwards  all  this  fuss  was  made,  and 
they  deposed  the  King  and  the  Queen,  and 
although  we  had  not  been  maids  of  honor  more 
than  an  hour  or  two,  they  said  that  we  also 
must  have  our  heads  taken  off,  which  is  very 
unpleasant." 

Tom  looked  at  Jack  intently  and  said,  "  Never 
mind,  Mary,  and  you  other  girls,  for  we  are  the 
President,  and  your  heads  shall  not  be  taken 
off." 

Calleen  said  to  Mary,  "  I  wonder  what 
Ernest  and  Sam  think  about  it.  Won't  they 
be  astonished  ?  "  Mary's  cheeks  flushed  a  beau- 
tiful red,  and  some  of  the  severe-looking  men 
who  were  standing  about,  and  did  not  under- 
stand a  word  they  said,  looked  with  admiration 
at  her,  —  many  of  them  seemed  to  feel  sym- 
pathy for  the  maids  of  honor. 

Calleen  again  informed  tlie  President  that  the 
Queen  spoke  English.  The  Queen  nodded  her 
head  and  smiled  a  sorrowful  little  smile. 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  59 

"  That  is  a  good  thing,"  said  Jack,  with  his 
eyes  on  Tom's  face,  "  then  she  will  understand 
what  shall  be  done  to  save  her." 

Then  the  interpreter  came  back ;  he  said  that 
Mr.  Rattles  did  not  desire  any  position  in  the 
civil  government,  but  that  he  wished  to  ask 
the  President  to  make  him  admiral  of  the  fleet 
and  to  let  his  own  boat  be  the  flag-ship.  As  it 
appeared  that  this  was  the  first  question  to  be 
disposed  of,  the  new  President,  who  was  obliged, 
according  to  the  interpreter,  to  speak  with  both 
his  voices  at  once,  announced  to  the  officials, 
through  the  interpreter,  that  Mr.  Rattles  was 
to  be  admiral  and  was  to  have  full  power  over 
the  fleet,  though  he  might,  if  he  should  choose 
to  do  so,  live  in  his  own  boat  and  constitute 
that  the  flag-ship. 

Mr.  Rattles  at  once  advanced  to  the  presi- 
dential chairs  and  inclined  himself,  while  Tom 
Murphy  said,  in  a  low  voice,  —  the  interpreter 
being  engaged  in  translating  the  words  of  the 
President  (making  the  appointment  of  Mr. 
Rattles)  to  the  other  officials :  — 

"Mr.  Rattles,  don't  start  when  you  see  the 
girls,  but  be  up  here  in  about  half  an  hour  so 
that  we  can  decide  what  to  do." 


60  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

,  So  when  Mr.  Rattles  did  turn  and  did  see  the 
maids  of  honor,  he  gave  them  only  a  reassuring 
wink  of  the  eye,  though  he  did  not  feel  very 
much  reassured  himself. 

But  when  he  walked  out  as  admiral  of  the 
fleet,  and  the  whole  assembly,  to  whom  the 
interpreter  had  announced  in  a  loud  voice  and 
in  an  unknown  tongue,  so  far  as  the  President 
was  concerned,  the  fact  of  his  present  rank,  — 
he  was  greeted  with  bows  and  cheers,  and 
perhaps  he  thought  it  was  a  very  fine  thing  to 
be  admiral  of  a  fleet  in  a  South  American  port, 
and  perhaps  he  did  n't. 

Then  the  interpreter  said  it  was  time  the 
President  shdlild  choose  his  advisers,  and  the 
President  answered  with  both  his  voices  that 
he  would  do  so,  and  that  the  interpreter  must 
give  him  a  clear  idea  as  to  whom  should  be 
chosen  as  advisers,  —  but  that  they  —  the  Presi- 
dent —  would  choose  for  his  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  the  man  who  had  just  been  declared  Ad- 
miral of  the  fleet,  as  it  would  be  well  to  have 
one  adviser  who  could  speak  the  same  language 
with  the  President,  and  as  the  advisers  would 
not  have  to  work  continuously,  but  only  by  fits 
and  starts,  the  two  duties  thus  devolving  upon 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  61 

Mr.  Rattles  would  not  interfere  with  each  other 
in  the  least. 

After  hearing  from  the  interpreter  what  the 
choice  of  the  President  for  his  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  was,  the  officials  declared  themselves  well 
pleased,  and  the  interpreter  was  immediately 
despatched  to  intercept  the  new  admiral  and 
bring  him  back  at  once. 

Jeanne  said  after  the  interpreter  was  out  of 
hearing  —  looking  affectionately  at  Calleen  — 
"  Tom  and  Jack,  that  was  a  good  move  —  to 
make  Mr.  Rattles  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and 
the  admiral,  —  do  you  think  he  can  get  us 
away  ?  " 

Tom  said  to  Jack,  "  Maid  of  honor,  you 
must  not  question  the  President." 

Then  the  interpreter  returned  with  Mr. 
Rattles,  and  the  task  of  choosing  the  other  ad- 
visers began. 

It  appeared  to  be  the  impression  in  the  South 
American  port  that  in  a  republic  all  of  the 
advisers  were,  as  a  necessity,  to  sit  on  chairs 
placed  on  the  dais  where  the  President  sat,  — 
and  that  as  much  of  the  population  of  the  coun- 
try as  could  get  into  this  immense  and  magnifi- 
cent hall  was  necessarily  to  be  present  at   all 


62  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

the  consultations  of  the  President  and  his 
advisers. 

Then  all  the  other  advisers  were  soon  chosen, 
and  chairs  placed  for  them  on  the  dais,  while 
the  poor  King  and  Queen  looked  on, —  and  the 
maids  of  honor,  comforted  now,  because  Jack 
and  Tom  and  Mr.  Rattles  were  in  power,  began 
to  look  around  them,  very  much  interested  in 
this  new  and  surprising  situation  —  stranger 
than  anything  they  had  ever  got  into  before. 

The  first  question  to  be  brought  up  was  about 
the  decapitation  of  the  prisoners,  and  the  maids 
of  honor,  as  they  were  foreigners,  and  girls, 
were  given  precedence,  so  their  fate  was  to  be 
decided  first. 

The  Secretary  of  State  said,  through  the 
interpreter,  that  he  did  not  know  whether  it 
was  he  or  the  Secretary  of  War  who  ought  to 
be  most  interested  in  advising  as  to  this  question 
—  and  the  President  said  he  thought  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  as  these  maids 
of  honor  were  foreigners,  and  it  was  his  busi- 
ness to  attend  to  everything  involved  in  foreign 
relations. 

Then  one  of  the  maids  of  honor  said  quite 
audibly,  that  she  did  not  believe  they  had  a  single 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  63 


foreign  relation  in  this  wliole  population,  unless 
it  might  be  the  Queen,  and  on  account  of  their 
being  her  maids  of  honor,  perhaps  they  ought  to 
regard  her  as  a  kind  of  stepmother,  and  indeed, 
in  the  short  time  they  had  been  serving  her, 
they  had  become  much  attached  to  her. 

The  Queen  smiled.  Then  these  four  prisoners 
were  brought  forward  and  asked  through  the 
interpreter  to  what  nation  they  belonged. 

The  girls  looked  at  Tom  and  Jack,  not  feel- 
ing quite  sure  whether  the  boys  wished  their 
nationality  to  be  made  known. 

The  President  immediately  said,  "  I  think 
these  maids  of  honor  look  like  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  so  if  you  please,  Mr.  Interpreter, 
we  can  understand  them  without  translation,  — 
if  you  will  just  translate  to  the  advisers." 

"  Maids  of  honor,  from  what  country  do  you 
come  ?  " 

"  From  the  United  States  of  America." 

"  In  that  case,"  said  the  President,  turning  his 
four  eyes  towards  the  other  advisers,  "there 
can  be  no  question  about  these  prisoners.  They 
belong  to  the  United  States,  to  which  country 
we  ourselves  belong,  and  if  any  evil  should 
happen  to  them  this   port  would  be   in   great 


64  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

danger,  for  the  United  States  is  a  very  power- 
ful nation." 

Some  of  the  advisers  looked  relieved  when 
this  speech  of  the  President's  was  translated ; 
others  looked  the  reverse,  and  suggested  that 
the  United  States  had  no  navy. 

The  President  answered  that  the  United 
States  had  a  navy  —  one  or  two,  or  perhaps 
half  a  dozen  ships  of  war,  and  about  one 
thousand  yachts  and  tug-boats  and  canal-boats. 

When  the  advisers  heard  this,  they  at  once 
said  that  the  maids  of  honor  ought  to  be  set 
free. 

The  maids  of  honor  smiled  at  all  the  advisers 
and  made  a  succession  of  little  curtsies,  which 
seemed  to  please  the  officials  of  this  new 
government. 

Then  a  question  arose  as  to  the  procedures 
in  the  case  of  the  King  and  the  Queen.  The 
President  said  that  of  course  the  Queen  must 
be  released  with  the  maids  of  honor,  as  she 
was  a  woman.  There  was  great  opposition  to 
this  ruling.  The  President  reminded  the  ad- 
visers that  the  United  States  would  not  toler- 
ate the  decapitation  of  a  woman,  because  there 
was  a  kind  of  a  Salic  law  in  the  United  States 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  65 

by  which  no  woman  was  ever  permitted  to  lose 
her  head,  —  no  matter  how  high  her  rank  — 
that  was  a  privilege  accorded  only  to  men. 

"  But  after  all,  this  port  is  not  the  United 
States,"  said  one  of  the  advisers. 

"  You  are  right,"  said  the  President,  "  but  as 
the  present  government  is  to  be  modelled  on  the 
plan  of  the  United  States  government,  and  as  the 
nations  of  the  world,  including  '  The  Powers,' 
will  hear  about  this  new  government,  the  United 
States  will  be  sure  to  remonstrate  with  all  the 
power  of  the  navy,  of  which  we  have  been  talk- 
ing, for  she  could  not  endure  that  any  govern- 
ment modelled  after  hers  should  take  off  a 
woman's  head." 

All  the  advisers  instantly  agreed  that  it  would 
be  better  to  leave  the  Queen's  head  on.  And  at 
last  it  was  agreed  that  all  the  prisoners  should 
be  let  off  except  the  King,  and  he  certainly 
must  lose  his  head  —  for  they  did  not  know 
what  else  to  do  with  him. 

The  President  agreed  to  this,  saying  that 
otherwise  the  King  might  become  troublesome, 
but  that  no  sentence  must  be  passed  until  the 
next  day,  as  there  was  so  much  other  business 
to  be  done. 

5 


66  TEE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Then  the  advisers  said  —  always  speaking 
through  the  interpreter  —  that  they  could  not 
wait  for  that  order  of  decapitation  till  the  next 
day,  as  there  was  no  suitable  place  in  which  to 
imprison  the  King,  —  all  the  prisons  were  in 
such  unsafe  condition  that  a  prisoner  of  State 
could,  at  any  time,  escape. 

The  President  reminded  them  that  there  was 
a  fine  frigate  lying  in  the  harbor  which  they  had 
noticed  as  they  sailed  in  —  and  a  ship  of  war 
was  at  any  time  as  good  as  a  fortress  for  pur- 
poses of  imprisonment. 

Then  the  advisers  declared  that  this  was  a 
good  idea  —  and  the  order  for  the  removal  of 
the  King  was  given  at  once.  Also  the  Presi- 
dent thought  it  would  be  well  to  let  the  Queen 
accompany  him,  for  no  disposition  could  be 
made  of  her  until  the  next  day,  and  although 
she  was  to  keep  her  head,  she  was  of  course,  for 
the  present,  a  prisoner  of  State  ;  and  the  maids 
of  honor  might  accompany  her  to  the  ship  of 
war  in  order  to  bid  her  good-bye. 

All  the  prisoners  who  had  been  released  said 
they  also  would  like  to  go  down  to  this  new 
prison  to  bid  the  King  good-bye.  Then  the 
King  was   taken  in  charge  by  the  admiral   of 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  67 

the  fleet,  who  in  his  position  as  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  had  suggested  to  the  President  the  advisa- 
bility of  using  the  ship  of  war  as  a  prison,  and 
the  meeting  was  broken  up. 

After  the  audience  dispersed,  the  President 
proposed  to  take  a  walk  to  the  shore  in  order 
to  inspect  the  conditions  on  the  frigate.  The 
whole  population  was  hungry  —  and  although 
the  advisers,  who  were  also  hungry,  wished  to 
show  courtesy  to  the  new  head  of  the  govern- 
ment, the  President  reminded  them  that  they 
must  be  hungry  and  had  better  go  home  to 
dinner,  while,  so  far  as  the  new  government  was 
concerned,  it  had  taken  dinner  on  the  sail-boat 
before  arriving. 

So  everything  was  arranged  as  they  desired  ; 
the  advisers  informing  the  President  that  after 
dinner  they  would  go  down  to  the  shore  for 
them,  and  again  they  should  be  carried  up  on 
the  shoulders  of  officials. 

On  arriving  at  the  frigate  the  President  found 
the  poor  King,  not  in  chains  at  all,  but  very 
comfortably  seated  at  dinner,  with  the  Queen 
and  the  maids  of  honor  and  the  other  released 
prisoners,  while  the  admiral  was  very  busy 
having  the  ship  put  in  order  for  sailing  immedi- 


68  rilE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

ately.  The  captain  was  enthusiastically  helping 
him  in  this  work,  for  he  was  a  cousin  to  the 
Queen,  and  was  warmly  attached  to  the  King, 
and  when  the  Queen  said  :  — 

"  But  to-morrow  they  will  take  him  up  to 
that  hall  of  State  again  and  pass  that  dreadful 
sentence  upon  him  —  " 

"  No,  they  wont,"  said  the  smiling  captain, 
"  for  the  admiral  has  commanded  us  to  sail 
away  in  ten  minutes,  all  hands  on  board,  and 
we  are  to  land  you  wherever  you  choose  —  for 
we  are  your  ship  of  war,  and  under  your  com- 
mand —  after  the  admiral  shall  have  sailed 
away  in  his  flag-ship ;  and  all  the  men  are 
delighted  to  have  their  King  for  their  ruler 
again." 

"  But  what  about  my  lovely  maids  of  honor  ?  " 
said  the  happy  Queen. 

"  The  admiral  says  they  are  to  go  in  his  flag- 
ship to  their  own  country,  and  those  two  halves 
of  a  President  are  going  with  them;  just  so 
soon  as  we  are  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  shore 
they  will  all  get  into  the  flag-ship." 

The  new  admiral  jumped  into  the  flag-ship 
and  pushed  off  from  shore,  while  the  ship  of 
war  loosed  her  anchorage  and  put  on  full  steam, 


AT  A   SOUTH  AMERICAN  PORT  69 

and  started  off  just  as  they  saw  the  population 
gathering  again  together  to  come  down  to  the 
shore,  —  and  pretty  soon  there  was  a  great 
demonstration  and  a  great  running  about,  —  but 
the  ship  of  war  was  a  fast  sailer,  and  the  flag- 
ship could  never  be  beaten  by  anything  on  the 
water,  and,  besides  these,  there  were  no  other 
ships  in  the  harbor. 

And  after  they  had  gotten  well  out  to  sea, 
the  maids  of  honor  said  good-bye  to  the  King 
and  to  the  Queen  and  to  the  King's  advisers, — 
and  each  half  of  the  President  said  good-bye  to 
the  royal  party,  and  to  everybody  on  board,  and 
wished  them  good  luck,  and  then  these  United 
States  people  dropped  into  the  flag-ship  which 
had  come  alongside,  and  the  whole  ship's  com- 
pany gave  three  cheers  for  the  two  halves  of  a 
President,  and  three  cheers  for  the  maids  of 
honor,  and  three  cheers  for  the  flag  of  the 
United  States  of  America. 


70  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


CHAPTER   V 

IN  THE  CONVALESCENT  WARD 

^Tp'HE  children  were  out  in  the  harbor  bathing 
-*■  when  a  boat  came  along,  and  the  oarsmen 
drew  in  their  oars  while  one  of  them  began  to 
talk. 

"  Are  you  busy  ?  "  said  the  man. 

"  Yes,"  said  the  children  ;  "  don't  you  see  that 
we  are  bathing  and  swimming  ?  we  are  busy." 

"  Then  I  suppose  there  is  no  use  in  asking 
you  to  help  us  in  our  need." 

"  What  is  your  need  ?  "  said  Tom  Murphy. 

"  We  are  nurses  in  the  convalescent  wards  of 
the  hospital.  You  know  where  the  hospital  is  ? 
Right  on  the  shore,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
city." 

"  Yes,  we  know  the  place,"  said  Calleen ; 
"  we  have  often  rowed  past  there :  it  is  a  very 
pretty  place." 

"  Oh,  a  charming  place,"  said  one  of  the 
women  in  the  boat ;  "  you  will  like  it  very 
much." 


IN  THE    CONVALESCENT    WARD  71 

"  But  we  are  not  sick,"  said  Rosey  Pink ; 
"  we  are  not  thinking  of  going  to  a  hospital." 

"  We  are  not  sick  either,"  answered  the 
woman,  who  was  young  and  pretty, "  but  we  live 
there." 

"  Oh,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

"  We  are  nurses,  and  we  have  very  pleasant 
times  in  the  hospital." 

Rosey  Pink  said  "  Oh,"  again. 

"  You  see,  this  is  the  way  of  it,"  said  the  oars- 
man who  had  first  spoken :  "  There  is  to  be  an 
excursion  starting  this  afternoon  for  the  Falls, 
and  we,  the  nurses  in  the  convalescent  wards, 
want  to  go  on  this  excursion  very  much.  We 
should  be  back  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  head 
matron  and  the  head  superintendent  said  that 
we  might  all  go  if  we  could  find  some  one  to  fill 
our  places,  because,  although  they  could  not 
spare  the  nurses  from  the  serious  wards,  any 
careful  people  could  attend  to  the  convalescent 
cases." 

Jack  O'Nory  said,  "  What  do  you  think  about 
it,  Ernest?" 

Ernest  said  that  any  way  he  could  not  go,  for 
he  had  promised  to  meet  Margaret  Parker  on 
the  bridge  that  afternoon ;    they   proposed    to 


72  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

gather  seaweed  on  the  north  shore,  and  Marj 
and  Sam  were  going  with  them. 

"  That  leaves  only  five  of  iis,"  said  Jack. 
"  How  many  nurses  would  you  want,  Mr. 
Oarsman  ? " 

"  Well,  about  three  boys  and  three  girls." 

"  We  could  let  you  have  two  boys  and  three 
girls." 

The  people  in  the  boat  talked  together  and 
then  they  said,  "  That  will  do." 

"  Must  we  go  right  away  ? "  asked  Jeanne. 

"  If  you  please,"  said  the  people  in  the  boat. 

"  Must  we  wear  any  special  dress  ? "  asked 
Calleen. 

The  pretty  nurse  said  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary for  the  girls  to  wear  caps  and  aprons,  but 
the  boys  could  go  in  their  ordinary  clothes. 

Calleen  said  that  the  girls  had  no  caps. 

"  We  have  thought  of  that,"  said  the  pretty 
nurse,  "  and  have  brought  our  caps  to  lend  you. 
You  can  leave  them  at  the  hospital  when  you 
come  away  to-morrow." 

"  Let  us  try  them  on,"  said  the  girls,  as  they 
swam  up  to  the  boat. 

But  the  pretty  nurse  said  the  caps  would  be 
spoiled  if  they  should  try  them  on  when  their 


IN  THE   CONVALESCENT   WARD  73 


hair  was  so  wet,  and  she  thought  the  best  way, 
after  all,  would  be  for  her  to  leave  them  at  the 
hospital,  and  they  could  try  them  on  there. 

"  Shall  we  be  obliged  to  sit  up  all  night  ?  " 
asked  Tom  Murphy. 

Calleen  said,  "  Tom,  that  is  a  foolish  question 
to  ask ;  of  course,  if  we  are  to  be  trained  nurses 
we  will  be  obliged  to  sit  up  all  night." 

"  Are  we  trained  nurses  ? "  asked  Tom. 

"  Of  course  we  are  not  going  to  take  charge  of 
the  convalescent  wards  unless  we  are  trained 
nurses  for  the  time  being;." 

"  I  see,"  said  Tom.  "  Well,  you  people  in  the 
boat,  you  may  go  away  happy,  for  we  will  take 
your  places  for  twenty-four  hours.  Remus  Rat- 
tles will  row  us  round  to  the  hospital  in  our  own 
boat,  but  you  '11  have  to  come  home  square  to 
the  minute,  because  we  shan't  stay  beyond  the 
time  we  have  promised." 

"  You  children  are  trumps,"  said  two  or  three 
voices  at  once ;  "  and  we  will  be  sure  to  come 
home  on  time." 

So  very  soon  after  this  the  children  were 
rowed  round  to  the  hospital,  and  the  matron 
gave  the  nurses'  caps  to  the  girls.     As  trained 


74  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

nurses'  caps  are  very  small  and  simply  stand  up 
on  the  top  of  the  head,  they  were  quite  large 
enough  for  the  girls,  who  looked  into  a  small 
glass  in  the  matron's  room,  and  were  much 
pleased  with  themselves. 

The  matron  said  she  hoped  they  would  be 
very  careful,  for  she  had  a  great  deal  to  do  in 
superintending  the  nurses  in  the  serious  wards, 
and  she  could  not  attend  to  the  substitutes  at 
all ;  but  they  must  all  be  careful  to  keep 
awake,  for  one  could  never  rely  upon  the  con- 
valescents, —  they  were  so  apt  to  do  things 
which  might  be  very  hurtful  to  them. 

The  boys  who  were  standing  with  Rosey  Pink 
and  Calleen  and  Jeanne  in  the  matron's  room 
looked  very  much  concerned,  and  were  wishing 
in  their  hearts  that  they  had  not  been  so  ready 
to  promise;  but  the  matron  took  them  to  the 
head  nurse  for  the  men's  convalescent  ward, 
which  was  immediately  next  to  the  women's 
and  children's  ward  and  connected  with  it  by 
a  wide,  open  door, 

"  It  is  a  very  good  thing,"  said  Calleen,  "  for 
one  of  us  will  be  constantly  obliged  to  go  in 
and  wake  up  those  boys;  as  for  me,  I  feel  as 
if  I  never  want  to  sleep  again." 


IN  THE   CONVALESCENT   WARD  75 

"  Calleen  is  always  ready  for  a  lark,"  said 
Jeanne. 

Calleen  said  she  wondered  how  Jeanne  could 
think  it  was  a  lark  to  come  and  sit  up  all  night 
with  poor,  sick  people,  and  see  their  sufferings. 

Jeanne  said  these  were  not  poor  sick  people, 
—  they  were  convalescents,  and  most  likely, 
from  what  the  matron  said,  they  would  be 
fussing  about  getting  up  at  night  and  careering 
around ;  perhaps  they  would  want  to  get  out 
of  the  windows,  and  it  would  be  a  lark  any 
way. 

Rosey  Pink  was  looking  very  serious  now,  for 
they  had  gotten  far  enough  into  the  room  to  see 
the  convalescents,  and  the  pretty  white  beds,  — 
some  of  them  small,  for  the  children,  —  and 
through  the  open  door  they  could  see  other 
long  rows  of  beds,  and  Tom  and  Jack  stepping 
about  on  tiptoe  and  stopping  to  speak  to  pale 
men  who  were  sitting  in  chairs  or  walking 
slowly  about  the  room. 

There  were  no  little  beds  in  the  men's  ward, 
for  all  the  children  were  together  in  one  corner 
of  the  women's  ward. 

The  girls  did  not  know  what  to  do  at  first, 
for  nobody  seemed  to  want  anything,  and  they 


76  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

supposed  it  would  not  do  for  them  to  sit  down 
like  the  convalescents  —  it  was  their  business  to 
be  busy. 

At  last  a  very  cranky  old  voice  said,  "  Am  I 
not  to  have  any  supper  at  all  to-night  ? " 

"  Certainly  you  are,"  said  Jeanne  ;  "  I  will 
get   your   supper   immediately." 

"  Don't  mind  her,  new  nurse,"  said  another 
quiet  voice  ;  "  she  is  always  asking  for  dinner  or 
supper  or  breakfast,  and  she  knows  very  well 
she  will  get  it  when  the  proper  hour  comes,  — 
it  is  still  twenty  minutes  to  supper  time,  and 
then  the  trays  are  brought  to  the  door,  and  all 
you  have  to  do  is  to  bring  them  in  and  serve 
us,  for  you  will  notice  that  there  is  a  small 
table  for  every  chair." 

"  We  are  very  much  obliged  to  you  for  telling 
us,"  said  Rosey  Pink ;  "  you  see,  we  are  quite 
strangers  here,  and  don't  exactly  know  what  we 
ought  to  do  first." 

"  Young^''  said  the  cranky  woman,  in  a  very 
discontented  tone. 

"  Cheer  up,  you  old  Mrs.  Cranky,"  said 
Calleen.  "  Here,  I  will  rub  your  back  for  you, 
and  that  will  make  you  feel  better." 

When    Jeanne   and   Rosey   Pink    saw    how 


IN  TEE   CONVALESCENT    WARD  77 

pleased  the  cranky  woman  was  with  Calleen 
for  rubbing  her  back,  they  immediately  began 
to  rub  other  convalescents'  backs,  with  so  much 
success  that  when  the  supper-trays  arrived,  the 
patients  did  not  seem  willing  that  the  rubbing 
should  stop ;  but  these  new  nurses  were  de- 
lighted at  the  interruption,  and  immediately 
began  to  make  themselves  useful,  running  about 
with  the  trays  and  serving  everybody  at  the 
different  little  tables.  Rosey  thought  that  per- 
haps the  boys  had  not  made  as  much  progress 
in  their  wards,  so  she  went  to  the  door  and 
said :  — 

"Tom,  have  you  and  Jack  served  supper  to 
your  convalescents  ?  " 

"  No ;  where  is  the  supper  ?  "  said  Tom. 

"  Most  likely,  just  outside  the  door ;  that 's 
where  the  dumb-waiter  is,  with  all  the  trays,  on 
our  side." 

So  Jack  and  Tom  went  to  the  door,  and  sure 
enough  there  were  all  the  trays  waiting,  so  the 
boys  were  soon  as  busy  as  the  girls. 

Pretty  soon  Tom  came  to  the  open  door  and 
said,  "•  There  is  a  man  here  who  already  wants 
to  get  out  of  the  window." 

"  But  you  must  not  let  him,"  said  Rosey. 


78  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  "We  are  not  letting  him ;  Jack  is  tackling 
him  now,  but  we  are  afraid  to  turn  our  backs  for 
a  minute." 

"  That  is  a  good  thing,  —  he  will  keep  you 
awake  all  right ;  if  he  were  not  here,  you  might 
drop  asleep  by  and  by,  and  that  man  will  keep 
you  awake  like  a  soldier  on  duty." 

"  You  don't  seem  to  care  much  about  the 
trouble  we  are  having." 

"  No,  I  don't  pity  you  at  all,  for  we  have  some 
queer  cases  in  our  room.  One  of  the  women 
says  she  will  not  eat  her  supper  any  way  but 
lying  fiat  on  her  back  in  the  middle  of  the 
room,  and  Calleen  is  feeding  her  and  making 
much  of  her,  just  as  if  the  cross  thing  were 
an  angel." 

When  it  came  time  for  all  these  convalescents 
to  be  made  ready  for  bed,  the  girls  were  at  their 
wits'  ends,  for  everybody  was  calling  to  them  at 
once  ;  but  the  quiet  woman  said  at  last :  — 

"  New  nurses,  just  don't  listen ;  all  of  us  are 
really  well  enough  now  to  help  ourselves  to  bed, 
except  the  lame  ones  and  the  children.  All  these 
patients  are  imposing  upon  you  because  they 
know  that  they  can.  As  for  that  patient  who 
lay  on  her  back  on  the  floor  to  take  her  supper, 


IN  THE    CONVALESCENT   WARD  79 

—  she  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  herself,  and  she 
would  never  have  tried  that  trick  on  the  regular 
nurses."  But  the  woman  on  the  floor  said  she 
was  unable  to  move. 

"  Then  how  did  you  get  down  there  ? "  said 
Calleen. 

"  It  was  easy  enough  to  get  down,  but  I  can- 
not get  up." 

"  Never  mind,  after  we  have  the  children  in 
bed  we  will  call  the  nurses  from  the  men's  ward 
to  get  you  up." 

The  woman  on  the  floor  got  up  in  a  minute. 

The  children, —  there  were  five  of  them,  two 
little  boys  and  three  girls,  —  who  appeared  to 
be  quite  as  old  as  the  nurses,  were  the  first  ones 
to  be  attended  to. 

After  the  little  boys  were  safe  in  bed,  and 
while  the  trained  nurses  were  undressing  the 
girls,  one  of  them  said  to  Rosey  Pink  :  — 

"  Can  you  dance  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

"  Jigs  ? " 

"  Jigs  and  other  dances." 

"  Then  let  us  have  a  jig  to-night ;  with  you 
nurses  and  the  two  little  boys  and  us  three  girls 
there  will  be  eight,  just  enough  for  a  good  jig." 


80  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  But  you  must  not  think  of  such  a  thing,  — 
you  are  too  sick  for  jigs." 

"We  are  not  sick,  we  have  got  over  our 
troubles.  I  have  never  been  sick,  —  it  was  only 
my  shoulder." 

"  And  my  back,"  said  another  girl ;  while  the 
third  one  said  it  was  only  her  head. 

"  But  we  can't  do  it,"  said  Rosey. 

Calleen  interrupted  to  say,  "  Why  not  ? " 

"  Because,  even  if  it  should  not  hurt  the  chil- 
dren, it  would  keep  all  the  other  convalescents 
awake,  and  I  suspect  that,  anyway,  it  would  be 
against  orders." 

The  girl  who  wanted  to  dance  said,  "But  we 
won't  have  the  jig  until  the  middle  of  the  night, 
then  all  the  otliers  will  be  asleep,  and  we  shall 
dance  on  tiptoes,  and  be  as  merry  as  grigs  and 
as  quiet  as  butterflies.  Do  you  know  what  a 
grig  is  ? " 

"  Do  you  ?  "  said  Rosey  Pink. 

"  No,  but  I  thought  you  would  know — trained 
nurses  learn  everything." 

"Well,  I  am  not  going  to  tell  you  now,  any- 
way ;  you  go  to  sleep,  and  ask  me  again  by  and 
by." 

"  In  the  middle  of  the  night  ?  " 


IN  THE   CONVALESCENT    WARD  81 

"  No,  to-morrow  morning." 

"  But  in  the  middle  of  the  night  it  will  be  to- 
morrow morning,  —  don't  you  know  that  ? " 

"  Good  night,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

The  trained  nurses  soon  had  the  convales- 
cents tucked  away  comfortably  in  bed.  They 
were  much  disturbed  when  they  opened  the  beds 
to  notice  that  all  the  under  sheets  were  pinned 
very  carefully  to  the  mattress  with  safety-pins 
and  that  they  were  as  smooth  as  ivory. 

They  said  to  each  other  that  they  never  would 
be  able  to  make  those  beds  right  in  the  morning, 
and  as  they  took  a  pride  in  their  work  and  would 
like  to  have  the  other  trained  nurses  pleased 
with  the  substitutes,  it  would  be  very  disappoint- 
ing if  they  could  n't  get  the  beds  to  look  just  as 
they  found  them ;  they  wished  Anno  was  here. 

When  the  convalescents  were  all  comfortably 
in  bed,  Rosey  went  to  the  communicating  door, 
which  was  now  only  partly  open,  into  the  men's 
room. 

"Tom,"  she  said  (Tom  was  sitting  perched 
up  on  the  only  window-sill,  which  was  a  low  one. 
The  other  windows  were  higher  up  in  the  wall 
and  had  no  sills,  this  one  was  a  beautiful  wide 
window)  ;  "  What  are  you  doing,  Tom  ?  " 

6 


82  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"I  am  sitting  here  the  enduring  time,  hom's 
and  hours,  because  that  man,  just  as  soon  as 
Jack  turns  his  back,  comes  over  here  to  jump 
out  of  this  window.  I  have  just  had  a  tussle 
with  him." 

"Tom,  you  know  everything,  —  what  is  a 
grig  ? " 

"  A  grig  is  sometimes  a  grasshopper,  some- 
times a  sand-eel,  sometimes  anything  else." 

"  Are  all  your  men  quiet  ones  except  the  one 
who  wants  to  get  out  of  the  window  ? " 

"  Mostly  quiet ;  but  I  say,  Rosey,  they  have 
some  funny  notions.  They  asked  Jack  if  1  was 
a  priest ;  and  Jack,  you  know,  tells  fibs  some- 
times,—  he  said  I  was," 

"  Then  what  ?  " 

"  Then  some  of  them  told  him  that  to-morrow 
morning  they  would  come  and  tell  me  about 
their  sins." 

"  Tlien  what  will  you  do  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  will  say  that  Jack  was  only  joking ; 
for  you  know,  Rosey,  I  can't  do  anything  about 
their  sins." 

"  Of  course  not.  Do  you  believe  that  you 
will  keep  awake,  you  two  boys  ?  You  had 
better  leave  this  door  wide  open,  so  that  if  we 


IN  THE   CONVALESCENT   WARD  83 

hear  anybody  calling  for  water,  we  can  come  in 
and  wake  you  up." 

"  No  fear  about  our  going  to  sleep  while  that 
window-man  is  awake,  and  he  seems  so  restless 
that  I  suppose  he  will  be  awake  all  night.  Look 
here,  Rosey." 

"  What  ? "  said  Rosey,  who  had  started  for 
the  other  ward. 

"  Don't  you  suppose  it  is  beautiful  on  our 
Island  now,  with  the  moonlight  coming  in  at 
the  windows  and  the  air  smelling  of  honey- 
suckles and  our  beds  so  comfortable?" 

"To-morrow  night  we  will  have  all  those 
things,  Tom,  and  this  night  those  trained  nurses 
are  having  such  a  holiday." 

"  That 's  so,"  said  Tom. 

Jeanne  told  Rosey  when  she  came  back  that 
although  the  two  little  boys  were  fast  asleep,  the 
girls  were  not  thinking  of  sleep  —  they  were 
thinking  of  the  jig. 

"  But  we  did  not  tell  them  they  could  have  a 

jig-" 

"  They  say  we  did  not  say  that  they  could 
not  have  it,  and  so  it  is  the  same  thing." 

"Jeanne,  tell  them  to  go  to  sleep  now,  and 
that  we  will  wake  them  in  the  middle   of  the 


84  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

night ;  you  know  wc  can  do  that  and  give  them 
a  glass  of  water  or  something,  so  as  to  keep  our 
promise,  but  they  will  be  too  sleepy  then  to 
remember  about  the  jig." 

The  trained  nurses  found  it  a  very  difficult 
matter  to  keep  awake,  especially  as  there  did 
not  seem  to  be  anything  to  do,  —  so  they  deter- 
mined to  take  turns,  one  watching  the  clock 
for  half  an  hour  while  the  others  would  sleep ; 
but  at  one  o'clock  there  was  a  stir  in  the 
small  beds,  so  Calleen,  whose  watch  it  was, 
took  a  glass  of  water  in  her  hand  and  met 
the  wide-open  eyes  of  the  proposer  of  the 
dance. 

"  Time  for  the  jig,"  said  she,  beginning  to  get 
out  of  bed. 

"  Good  gracious,  child  ! "  said  Calleen,  "  you 
will  disturb  the  whole  ward." 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it,"  was  the  answer ;  and  this 
girl  who  had  said  that  it  was  only  her  shoulder 
that  was  the  matter  proceeded  to  wake  the  two 
older  children,  and  was  going  to  rouse  the  little 
boys  when  Calleen  said  they  could  do  just  as 
well  without  the  boys,  who  were  so  small  that 
they  would  be  peevish  and  cry,  and  spoil  every- 
thing. 


IN  THE   CONVALESCENT  WARD  5^5 

"  The  other  nurses  are  asleep,"  said  the  larg- 
est girl,  in  an  astonished  voice. 

"  They  are  only  just  resting,"  answered 
Calleen. 

"  You  can  go  and  tell  them  that  it  is  time  for 
the  dance  ;  and  ask  that  other  nurse  whom  you 
call  Rosey,  what  is  a  grig?" 

Calleen  awoke  Jeanne  and  Rosey.  "  Rosey," 
said  she,  "  what  is  a  grig  ? " 

"  It  is  a  grasshopper  and  a  sand-eel  and  one 
or  two  other  things." 

So  Calleen  went  back  to  the  convalescent 
girl  and  said,  "  It  is  a  grasshopper  and  a  sand- 
eel  and  one  or  two  other  things." 

"  That 's  all  right  —  well,  make  those  other 
nurses  get  up  and  we  will  begin  and  be  as  merry 
as  grigs." 

Rosey  and  Jeanne  now  came  forward ;  they 
said  :  — 

"  Calleen,  it  is  never  going  to  do  to  let  these 
children  get  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night." 

"  But,"  said  Calleen,  "  they  are  already  up." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  largest  convalescent  girl, "  and 
if  we  don't  dance,  I  shall  put  my  shoulder  out 
of  joint  again,  —  I  can." 

"  Oh,  for  any  sake,  don't  do  that,"  said  Rosey. 


86  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Come  along,  and  we  will  dance  the  jig  with 
you  on  our  tiptoes,  but  we  must  do  it  without 
music  of  any  kind,  —  we  must  not  sing." 

So  the  nurses  and  the  three  little  convales- 
cents began  to  dance  a  jig  without  a  grain  of 
music,  and  really  and  truly  on  their  tiptoes ; 
but  as  they  got  more  and  more  in  the  spirit  of 
the  jig,  there  was  some  pretty  sudden  shrill 
laughter,  and  the  steps  grew  faster,  and,  say 
what  you  will,  there  was  a  noise.  The  nurses 
in  the  next  room  were  disturbed,  and  stood  at 
the  door  looking  in ;  now  and  then  they  made 
remarks :  — 

"  Good  for  you,  convalescent !  Well  done, 
Jeanne !     Hurrah  for  you,  Rosey  Pink ! " 

When  Rosey  looked  toward  the  white  beds 
she  found  every  convalescent  sitting  up  looking 
at  the  jig. 

"  Get  me  my  shoes  and  stockings  immedi- 
ately," said  one,  "  I  am  going  to  Ireland." 

"  Never  mind  her,"  said  the  largest  convales- 
cent girl,  "  she  is  always  going  to  Ireland." 

"  Go  on  dancing,"  said  another  convalescent. 
"  You  look  like  fairies." 

But  the  girl  who  could  put  her  shoulder  out  of 
joint  said,  "  We  are  not  fairies,  we  are  grigs." 


IN  THE   CONVALESCENT    WARD  87 

"  Go  on  dancing,  grigs,"  said  the  woman. 

"  I  want  my  shoes  and  stockings  put  on,  I 
am  going  to  Ireland." 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  said  Calleen  ;  "  every 
one  of  them  is  awake." 

Jeanne  said  there  was  nothing  to  be  done 
except  to  make  these  girls  go  at  once  to  bed ; 
they  had  had  their  dance  and  had  been  very 
happy,  and  no  doubt  it  was  all  very  bad  for 
them,  and  it  had  waked  up  all  the  grown  ones ; 
and  it  would  not  be  a  bit  surprising  if  all  the 
convalescents  should  die  the  next  day,  and  if 
they  did,  they  (the  substitutes)  would  certainly 
be  blamed  for  it,  so  the  best  thing  to  do  would 
be  to  make  them  all  go  to  sleep  at  once,  and 
try  if  sleep  would  not  restore  them. 

"  I  tell  you,  I  want  my  shoes  and  stockings, 
—  I  am  going  to  Ireland." 

"  You  had  better  put  them  on  for  her,"  said 
the  woman  in  the  next  bed ;  "  then  she  '11  be 
satisfied,  and  likely  drop  asleep.  She 's  been 
going  to  Ireland  just  this  way  for  twenty-five 
years,  they  do  say." 

After  a  while  this  woman  and  all  the  others 
went  to  sleep;  but  in  the  morning  everybody 
refused  to  be  disturbed,  even  for  breakfast,  and 
when  the  matron  came  in  she  said  :  — 


88  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  You  must  have  been  humoring  these  pa- 
tients, and  you  will  have  a  hard  time,  for  they 
will  be  querulous  all  day,  and  give  you  enough 
to  do ;  but  I  will  sit  here  while  you  go  into 
my  room  and  take  breakfast." 

Oh,  how  long  the  day  seemed  till  the  after- 
noon, when  the  real  trained  nurses  came  back, 
and  all  the  substitutes  —  boys  and  girls  —  were 
in  the  boat  again  and  on  their  way  to  The 
Island  Impossible. 


JURORS  89 


CHAPTER   VI 

JURORS 

"  '^J^^  ""^  tJ^is  lovely  summer  time,"  said 
-*-^  Calleen,  "when  it  is  the  holidays,  I 
think  we  ought  to  go  on  a  longer  excursion; 
we  have  been  making  such  small  journeys 
lately." 

"  What  do  all  you  others  say  about  it,"  said 
Jack  O'Nory. 

"  Let  us  go,"  answered  the  others. 

So  they  started,  all  the  children,  and  Anno 
and  Roscoe  and  Remus,  in  the  sail-boat. 

"And  where  are  we  to  go?"  asked  Mr. 
Rattles. 

"  To  see  the  world." 

"  In  that  case  we  must  cross  the  ocean,"  said 
Mr.  Rattles. 

So  they  crossed  the  ocean,  and  Tom  Murphy 
said,  that  although  they  had  often  had  great 
fun  in  going  down-hill  on  a  sled,  this  was  a 
hundred  times  better,  sliding  down  these  great 


90  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

waves ;  and  the  best  part  of  it  was,  that  there 
was  no  walking  up-hill  about  it,  and  as  for 
the  sight  of  the  beautiful  ships  sailing  by  so 
straight  and  proud,  it  would  never  be  possible 
to  see  that  sight  on  The  Island  Impossible. 
And  so  for  his  part  he  was  very  glad  they 
had  started  off  on  a  voyage  to  see  the  world. 

"  And  they  sailed  and  they  sailed,"  and  they 
came  near  to  the  land,  and  pretty  soon  they 
followed  a  great  ship  until  she  came  to  a  place 
of  landing  where  there  seemed  to  be  a  city  of 
ships ;  but  Mr.  Rattles  steered  his  boat  past  this 
white  city,  right  into  the  loveliest  river,  which 
very  soon  carried  these  passengers  away  from 
all  the  bustle  and  commotion,  and  led  them 
along  swiftly  till  the  river  began  to  grow  quite 
narrow,  so  that  they  could  smell  the  sweet- 
scented  hay  which  was  drying  in  heaps  on  the 
meadows,  while  in  other  fields  the  women  and 
the  children  were  raking  it  together  and  the 
men  were  loading  the  great  hay-wagons  ;  and 
some  of  these  boys  and  girls  thought  they  would 
very  much  like  to  land  and  take  a  hand  in  this 
business,  but  as  nobody  expressed  this  wish 
aloud,  there  was  no  move  made  for  landing. 

The  great  barns  stood  so  near  the  river  that 


JURORS  91 

the  passengers  could  look  right  through  their 
open  doors,  —  doors  which  framed  lovely  laud- 
scapes  on  the  other  side. 

Mr.  Rattles  said,  "  All  these  smooth  meadows 
and  the  hedges  between,  and  the  greenness 
of  the  grass,  and  the  neatness  of  everything,  — 
all  this  means,  '  England.'  " 

"  Then  we  are  in  England,"  said  the  whole 
boat-load.  "  Hurrah  for  merry  England,  and 
God  save  the  Queen  !  "  and  very  soon  they  landed 
at  the  wharf  of  a  pretty  town  and  moored  their 
boat,  while  they,  all  of  them,  set  off  to  explore 
the  town,  whose  streets  seemed  to  be  full  of 
dancing  girls  and  boys,  who  carried  flowers  in 
their  hands,  at  their  waists,  on  their  hats,  on 
their  shoulders,  —  everywhere  where  flowers 
could  possibly  find  a  place.  They  smiled  at  the 
strange  children,  who  asked  them,  "  And  where 
are  you  going,  so  blythe  and  gay  ? " 

"We  are  going  to  a  Sunday-school  picnic, 
and  will  you  all  come  with  us  ?  " 

The  children  hesitated,  but  Mr.  Rattles  said  : 

"  If  you  go  to  the  Sunday-school  picnic,  you 
will  not  have  much  time  left  for  seeing  the  rest 
of  the  world." 

So  they  shook  their  heads  at  the  happy  Sun- 


92  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

day-school  picnickers,  and  passed  along  up  the 
shady  street. 

They  saw  two  policemen,  who  regarded  them 
intently  and  with  apparent  interest.  These 
policemen  appeared  to  be  looking  for  something, 
but  whether  it  was  for  a  thief  or  for  something 
smaller  they  could  not  tell ;  however,  after 
passing  them  the  policemen  turned  and  passed 
them  again,  and  the  children  heard  one  say  to 
the  otlier  :  — 

"  Just  twelve  of  them,  exactly  the  right 
number." 

"  Do  you  suppose  they  think  any  one  of  us  is 
a  thief  ?  "  said  Sam  Holmes. 

Calleen  said,  "  No ;  the  men  had  said,  '  Just 
twelve  of  them,  exactly  the  right  number,' 
and  it  was  not  likely  they  were  looking  for 
twelve  thieves." 

"  They  are  very  uncomfortable-looking  men," 
said  Mary,  "  They  look  warm,  and  that  may 
make  them  so  ill-natured  as  to  imagine  tliat 
everybody  is  a  thief." 

The  policemen  walked  on  and  came  to  a 
standstill  at  the  head  of  the  street,  so  that  these 
strangers,  who  were  exploring  the  shady  streets, 
soon  came  up  to  them. 


JURORS  93 

"  Have  yon  formed  any  opinion  in  the  case  of 
Silas  against  Silas  ? "  asked  one  of  them. 

As  he  looked  at  the  whole  crowd  when  he 
spoke,  the  whole  crowd  answered  that  they 
didn't  know  anything  about  either  one  of  the 
Silases. 

"  Then  you  have  n't  read  the  papers,"  said 
the  other  policeman. 

And  the  whole  crowd  answered  again  :  — 

"  No,  we  have  n't  read  the  papers." 

"  If  you  are  examining  the  town,  we  want  to 
show  you  the  very  handsomest  building  in  the 
place,  the  Court  House,  so  will  you  come  with 
us?" 

The  children  assented  ;  but  as  they  walked 
along,  Rosey  Pink  said  :  — 

"  It  looks  as  if  we  had  all  been  arrested." 

When  they  came  to  the  Court  House,  they 
were  carried  by  their  guides  right  up  to  a  chair 
where  a  judge  was  sitting,  and  as  they  passed 
up  they  noticed  that  the  Court  House  was  quite 
full,  that  there  were  lawyers  standing  about, 
and  that  they,  the  children,  attracted  a  good 
deal  of  attention  on  their  way  to  the  Judge's 
seat. 

"  Your  Honor,"  said  one  of  the  policemen : 


94  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  here  are  twelve  jurymen,  good  men  and 
true,  who  do  not  know  anything  about  either 
one  of  the  Silases,  who  have  n't  read  the  papers, 
and  who  are  at  your  service  ;  that  five  of  them 
are  girls  will  not,  your  Honor,  make  any  differ- 
ence, as  the  movement  about  women's  rights 
has  become  very  strong  in  the  country,  and 
they  will  be  accepted  just  as  soon  as  your 
Honor  shall  order  them  to  be  sworn  in." 

"  Swear  them  in,"  ordered  the  Judge. 

Then  somebody  with  a  big  staff  in  his  hand 
came  forward  and  began  to  speak. 

First  he  asked  if  they  had  formed  any  opinion 
in  the  case  of  Silas  against  Silas,  and  Tom 
Murphy  said :  — 

"  We  have  already  said  that  we  don't  know 
either  of  the  Silases,  and  now  — "  but  the 
Judge  interrupted  and  said  again,  "  Swear 
them  in  ; "  so,  somehow  or  another,  they  were 
sworn  in,  and  were  then  conducted  to  a  kind 
of  fenced-off  place,  which  the  man  with  the 
big  staff  called  a  jury-box,  and  were  all  seated, 
by  that  same  man,  —  the  boys  in  the  front  row, 
the  girls  in  the  second  row,  and  Mr.  Rattles  and 
Roscoe,  who  looked  rather  sheepish,  behind  the 
others. 


JURORS  95 

Rosey  Pink  leaned  forward,  and  asked  Jack 
O'Nory :  — 

"  Is  this  a  lark  ?  " 

"  A  pretty  good-sized  lark,"  said  Jack.  "  How- 
are  we  going  to  get  away  ?  " 

"  We  are  not  going  to  get  away  at  all,"  said 
Tom  Murphy. 

Calleen  said  it  was  just  as  inconvenient  as  if 
they  had  been  thieves ;  "  and  what  are  we,  any 
way  ?  "  she  continued. 

"  Don't  you  see,"  said  Jack,  "  that  we  are 
jurors." 

Then  the  Judge  pounded  something  on  the 
table  before  him,  and  all  the  buzz  which  was 
going  on  stopped  in  a  minute. 

The  children  understood  then,  when  every- 
thing was  so  quiet  that  you  could  almost  hear 
a  spider  spinning  hia  web  between  the  ceiling 
and  the  floor,  that  they  could  not  speak  to  each 
other  any  more. 

Then  one  of  the  lawyers  stood  up  and  said  :  — 

"  Your  Honor,  my  client,  Peter  Silas,  owns 
twenty  acres  of  land,  and  his  cousin,  Solomon 
Silas,  wishes  to  take  it  away  from  him." 

"  What  a  shameful  thing  to  do,"  said  Jeanne, 
quite  low,  to  Rosey  Pink. 


96  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

In  a  minute  another  lawyer,  a  quick-speaking 
man,  jumped  up  and  said  :  — 

"  Your  Honor,  my  client,  Solomon  Silas,  has 
lived  on  that  land  for  twenty  years,  and  has  dug 
a  well  on  it,  and  done  a  great  many  things  to 
improve  it,  and  now  Peter  Silas  wants  to  turn 
him  out  of  the  place  where  he  was  so  comfort- 
able with  his  wife  and  children." 

"  What  a  shameful  thing  to  do,"  said  Rosey 
Pink,  leaning  over  and  speaking  to  Tom  Murphy. 

Then  the  first  lawyer  rose  and  said  that  his 
client,  Peter  Silas,  was  quite  willing  to  let  his 
cousin,  Solomon  Silas,  remove  his  house  and  all 
his  improvements  off  the  land,  except,  indeed, 
the  improvement  of  the  well,  which  he  had  dug, 
which  could  not  very  well  be  moved. 

"  That  seems  fair  enough,"  said  Ernest,  in  a 
distinct  voice. 

The  Judge  said,  quite  sternly  :  — 

"  The  jury  will  please  refrain  from  express- 
ing an  opinion,  and,  indeed,  it  has  no  right  even 
to  form  an  opinion  at  this  stage  of  the  proceed- 
ings, —  it  lays  itself  open  to  the  danger  of  being 
challenged." 

"  Challenged,"  said  Jeanne  in  a  whisper,  her 
face  pale  with  fright. 


JURORS  97 

"  Don't  be  so  frightened,  Jeanne,"  said  Mary, 
in  the  same  low  whisper.  "  He  does  n't  mean 
that  we  would  have  to  fight  a  duel." 

"  Then  what  does  he  mean  ? "  said  Jeanne. 

"  No  matter  ;  don't  talk  ;  if  we  do,  we  will 
get  into  trouble." 

The  lawyer  who  had  just  been  speaking  con- 
tinued, saying  that  his  client,  Peter  Silas,  did 
not  even  ask  payment  of  rent  for  all  these  years 
that  Solomon  Silas  had  lived  on  his  land,  but 
that  he  wanted  the  land  himself  now.  He  was 
going  to  marry  a  widow  with  eleven  small 
children,  many  of  them  twins,  and  he  wished 
to  have  as  much  room  about  him  as  he  possibly 
could  have,  and  he  was  obliged  to  build  a  new 
house  at  once,  if  his  cousin  would  only  be  so 
obliging  as  to  move  off  the  land.  It  was  very 
inconvenient,  as  he  could  not  marry  until  he 
had  possession  of  the  land,  and  meantime  all 
these  young  children  must  remain  without  his 
protection. 

"  I  think  Solomon  ought  to  move  off  at  once," 
whispered  Tom  to  Jack. 

Jack  made  eyes  of  assent  to  Tom's  opinion. 
Then  the  other  lawyer  rose  and  said  that  Solo- 
mon Silas  had  already   twelve  children  of   his 

7 


98  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

own  ;  that  it  would  cost  him  a  <^reat  deal  of 
money  to  move  his  house  and  all  his  other  im- 
provements, and  in  the  meantime,  what  was  he 
going  to  do  with  his  children  ? 

Sam  said  to  Ernest,  under  his  hreath,  that  it 
would  be  a  very  cruel  thing  in  Peter  Silas  to 
expect  Solomon  Silas  to  move. 

Then  there  was  a  great  deal  more  talk,  first 
from  one  lawyer  then  from  the  other ;  and  the 
Judge  now  and  again  opened  different  big  books, 
which  lay  on  a  desk  before  him,  and  read  long 
lectures  out  of  these  books  in  a  very  drony  kind 
of  a  way,  so  that  the  jurors  thought  the  Judge 
was  pretty  nearly  asleep,  and  they  were  not 
quite  sure  of  themselves ;  they  realized  that 
they  were  pretty  nearly  asleep,  and  that  if  any- 
body should  call  upon  them  to  read  out  of  those 
big  books,  they  too  would  be  very  likely  to  read 
in  a  drony  kind  of  way. 

They  stopped  paying  attention  to  anything 
that  either  the  lawyers  or  the  Judge  was  saying, 
for  it  did  seem  so  silly  to  be  going  over  the 
same  thing  all  the  time,  backward  and  forward, 
and  nothing  coming  of  it,  and  no  one  being 
satisfied,  and  the  lawyers  were  getting  very  red 
in  the  face,  and  were  looking  as  if  they  would 


JURORS  99 

like  to  kill  each  other ;  and  the  spider,  who 
had  gone  down  from  the  ceiling  to  the  floor,  was 
now  going  up  again,  and  that  was  interesting. 

Then  their  attention  was  again  attracted,  for 
the  lawyers  stopped  talking  and  everybody  sat 
down,  except  those  who  did  not  have  any  seats ; 
and  the  Judge  began  to  speak,  and  turned  him- 
self towards  the  penned-in  place  in  which  they 
were  sitting,  and  said  :  — 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Jury,"  and  a  great  deal 
more  besides. 

He  kept  constantly  saying,  "  And  you  are  to 
take  care ; "  but  of  what,  and  about  what,  the 
children  could  not  for  the  life  of  them  find  out. 
And  after  the  Judge  stopped  speaking,  the  man 
with  the  staff  came  and  told  them  to  follow  him. 
He  took  them  into  a  room,  which  was  empty 
except  that  it  had  twelve  chairs  in  it,  and  the 
man  with  the  staff  said  :  — 

"  Here  is  a  bell  on  the  floor,  and  when  you 
have  come  to  a  decision,  ring  that  bell  and  I 
will  come  and  take  you  into  court  again." 

Then  he  went  away. 

The  children  had  no  desire  to  be  taken  into 
court  again,  neither  had  Anno  or  Mr.  Rattles 
or  Roscoe,  so  they  thought  it  was  most  likely 


100  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

they  would  not  ring  the  bell,  but  would  quietly 
go  out  of  the  door  and  walk  down  the  pretty 
street  till  they  should  come  to  the  wharf  and 
get  into  their  boat. 

Calleen  told  Mr.  Rattles  it  was  a  pity  he  did 
not  let  them  go  with  the  picnickers,  for  certainly 
they  had  lost  about  as  much  time  here  as  they 
would  have  done  in  the  other  way,  and  the 
other  way  would  have  been  far  pleasanter.  Then 
they  went  to  the  windows  and  looked  out,  and 
saw  the  pretty  river,  and  became  quite  anxious 
to  hurry  down  and  sail  away  again  to  see  the 
rest  of  the  world,  and  hoped  they  were  going 
to  have  no  more  hindrances  such  as  this  had 
been.  But  when  Tom  Murphy  tried  to  open 
the  door  he  found  that  it  was  locked.  What 
was  to  be  done  now  ?  The  children  were  very 
much  disconcerted.  The  whole  company  sat 
down  on  the  twelve  chairs  to  meditate,  but 
nobody  seemed  to  have  any  idea  what  was  to  be 
done  next.  At  last,  Rosey  Pink  suggested  that 
there  was  the  bell,  of  which  the  man  with  the 
staff  had  spoken,  and  he  said  when  they  had 
come  to  a  decision  to  ring  the  bell,  which,  of 
course,  must  have  meant,  when  they  had  de- 
cided  to  go,   they  were  to  ring  the  bell.     He 


JURORS  101 

certainly  did  not  think  they  were  going  to  de- 
cide to  go  back  into  the  court-room,  even  if  he 
had  said  he  would  take  them  back  there;  and 
perhaps  he  had  thought  they  were  warm  and 
would  like  to  get  cool  in  this  room,  which 
had  no  furniture  anywhere  about  it  to  an- 
noy them,  and  most  likely  he  had  locked  the 
door  to  prevent  any  chance  of  their  being 
annoyed. 

Mr.  Rattles  said  that,  not  being  a  landsman, 
of  course,  he  did  not  know  much  about  things, 
but  he  believed  the  man  with  the  staff  expected 
them  to  go  back  to  the  court-room  again. 

"  Any  way,  let 's  ring  the  bell,"  said  Jack 
O'Nory  ;  and  so  they  rang  it,  and  were  all  stand- 
ing: in  a  row  near  the  door  when  the  man  with 
the  staff  opened  it. 

"  You  have  decided  pretty  quick,"  said  the 
man.     "  Who  do  you  think  had  the  right  of  it  ?" 

"  What  did  you  say  ? "  said  Ernest. 

"Who  do  you  think  had  the  right  of  it, — 
Peter  Silas  or  Solomon  Silas  ? " 

Tom  Murphy  looked  round  at  the  others. 

"  Oh  ! "  he  said.  Then  Calleen  stepped  for- 
ward. 

"  I  don't  think  we  have   quite  decided  yet," 


102  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

she  said.  "  But  will  you  please  bring  u§  a 
pitcher  of  water  and  some  tumblers  ? " 

"  Certainly,"  said  the  man  with  the  staff. 
And  then  when  he  was  gone,  locking  the  door 
behind  him,  Calleen  said  :  — 

"  Children,  he  means  us  to  decide  which  of 
those  people  should  have  the  land,  and  then  we 
would  have  to  go  in  and  tell  the  Judge  about  it. 
I  remember  now,  a  long  time  ago,  uncle  had  to 
be  a  juror,  and  I  heard  him  talking  to  the  dear 
auntie  about  it.  So  when  the  water  comes, 
let 's  tell  him  we  have  not  decided,  and  then  he 
will  go  away  and  we  can  talk  to  each  other  and 
sec  what  we  can  do." 

So  they  said  they  had  not  yet  decided,  and 
the  door  was  again  locked. 

Mary  said,  "There  is  no  use  talking  about 
deciding.  I  can't  do  it,  for  one.  I  am  so 
sorry  for  both  those  people,  —  for  Peter  and 
for  Solomon,  and  for  all  those  unhappy  chil- 
dren, and  those  mothers  who  must  be  very 
much  perplexed,  and  it  would  be  impossible 
for  mc  to  decide." 

All  the  others  said  it  would  be  impossible  for 
them  to  decide,  and  Mr.  Rattles  said  he  was 
dashed  if  he  could  decide.     Anno  began  to  cry, 


JURORS  103 

because  she  did  not  know  how  they  could  get 
out  of  that  place.  Then  they  went  to  the  win- 
dows and  looked  out,  and  said  that  no  windows 
were  at  the  back  of  the  Court  House,  and  if 
they  were  only  on  the  ground  they  could  run 
down  to  the  wharf  quite  easily  with  no  fear  of 
being  seen,  but,  alas !  these  windows  were  two 
stories  high,  and  it  would  not  do  to  risk  break- 
ing any  of  their  bones  here  and  being  taken 
back  to  the  court-room  for  the  lawyers  to  make 
a  speech  about  them. 

Mr.  Rattles  seemed  to  be  very  intent  and 
abstracted  while  he  was  looking  out  of  the  win- 
dow. He  was  evidently  measuring  something 
with  his  eye,  and  weighing  something  in  his 
mind. 

"  You  see,"  said  Ernest,  "  you  girls  are  just 
as  good  climbers  as  we  are,  but  this  two-story 
business  is  a  little  high  for  any  of  us.  Of 
course,  if  we  had  a  rope." 

"  Well,"  said  Mr.  Rattles  slowly,  "  that  is  all 
that  is  necessary  —  a  rope  —  I  have  been  look- 
ing out  of  that  window  pretty  sharp,  and  I  don't 
see  anything  to  hinder  in  the  way  of  getting 
down  to  the  wharf.  There  are  no  windows  in 
the  room  beneath,  so  they  could  not  see  us,  and 


104  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

I  know  all  you  young  ones  are  like  cats  about 
climbing,  and  as  I  always  carry  a  rope  —  " 

"  Oil !  do  you,  do  you  ? "'  said  everybody. 

"  In  case  of  accidents,"  continued  Mr.  Rattles. 

"  And  this  is  an  accident,  this  is  an  accident," 
said  everybody. 

"  We  might  as  well,"  continued  Mr.  Rattles, 
"  start." 

"  But  where  is  the  rope  ?  "  said  Rosey  Pink. 

"  Coiled  round  my  waist ; "  so  they  uncoiled 
the  rope,  yards  and  yards  and  yards  of  it,  and 
really  Mr.  Rattles  looked  more  like  himself  than 
he  had  looked  when  they  started  on  their  journey. 

"  I  thought  you  had  grown  fat  very  suddenly," 
said  Jeanne  ;  "  but  I  didn't  like  to  notice  it." 

Then  it  was  a  question  to  what  the  rope 
should  be  fastened.  It  would  not  do  to  tie  it  to 
a  chair,  for  the  chair  would  certainly,  in  that 
case,  go  out  of  the  window  with  them  ;  but  on 
exploring,  they  found  a  very  convenient  hook 
driven  into  the  wall  of  the  house  just  outside 
of  the  window,  and  it  did  not  take  any  time  to 
fasten  the  rope  very  securely,  and  then  these 
climbers  very  soon  let  themselves  down  hand 
over  hand,  and  all  alighted  on  the  ground  safe 
and  sound.     Of  course,  the  rope  had  to  be  left 


JURORS  105 

behind,  but  then  Mr.  Rattles  could  easily  get 
another  one.  There  was  no  time  lost  in  run- 
ning through  the  pretty  streets  and  getting 
down  to  the  river  again,  where  they  pushed  off 
from  shore  joyful  in  their  escape. 


106  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


CHAPTER   VII 

ON  THE  GREAT  DESERT 

QO  they  sailed  out  into  the  wide  ocean  again, 
^     far  away,  and  far  away. 

They  passed  many  places  on  the  shores  of 
Palestine,  whose  names  they  had  always  known, 
and  now  and  again  one  would  say  to  Mr. 
Rattles :  — 

"  Why  should  we  not  land  at  this  beautiful 
place  of  which  we  have  read  so  much  ? " 

And  another  would  say  :  — 

"  Oh,  let  us  land  at  tlie  old-fashioned  Joppa, 
—  I  know  they  call  it  Jaffa  now,  but  it  is  Joppa 
in  the  Bible ;  so  let  us  land  and  '  go  up  to 
Jerusalem.' " 

But  Mr.  Rattles  said,  "  If  we  land  anywhere 
now,  we  certainly  cannot  see  The  Great  Desert, 
or  ride  on  the  camels,  for  pretty  soon  we  must 
be  at  home  again." 

So  the  children  were  quiet,  and  decided  that 
no  stop  must  bo  made  until  they  should  sail 
up   tlie   river   Nile,  and  leave   their   boat,  and 


ON  THE   GREAT  DESERT  107 

travel  overland  to  the  place  where  they  must 
take  their  camels  to  go  across  The  Great 
Desert. 

They  were  all  glad  to  see  Cairo,  and  to  stop 
for  a  minute  and  walk  about.  They  said  Cairo 
must  really  be  the  capital  of  the  world,  because 
people  from  all  parts  of  the  world  were  walking 
through  its  sunny  streets ;  but  Mr.  Rattles 
hurried  them  so  much  that  their  eyes  were 
always  turning  backward,  looking  at  the  glit- 
tering cities  and  the  green  shores  which  they 
had  reluctantly  passed.  Mary  said  the  longer 
the  time  before  they  reached  the  camels,  the 
better  for  her,  for  she  was  sure  that  she  would 
be  sea-sick  on  the  back  of  a  camel,  and  certainly 
she  thought  it  a  hazardous  business,  and  she  was 
very  much  in  dread  of  that  experience. 

At  last  they  reached  the  starting-place,  and 
Jack  O'Nory  said  that  so  far  they  had  seemed 
to  be  making  a  journey  in  a  dream. 

The  camels  were  waiting  for  them,  and  a 
dragoman,  and  a  cook,  and  two  or  three  other 
men,  and  there  was  a  crowd  of  people  waiting 
for  more  camels;  but  the  Director  of  Affairs 
said  that  this  party  of  children  was  to  have  the 
first  choice,  and  as  there  were  still  three  vacant 


108  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

camels  left,  with  this  dragoman,  the  children 
should  choose  which  three  of  the  waiting  travel- 
lers they  would  take  for  companions. 

Tom  Murphy  said,  "  Jack,  there  is  a  bishop 
standing  over  there,  and  he  has  a  young  lady 
with  him,  and  a  young  man,  —  they  would  just 
suit  for  the  three  camels." 

"  So  they  would,  and  I  rather  like  the  looks 
of  the  bishop  ;  the  young  lady  is  as  pretty  as  a 
violet,  and  the  young  man  looks  as  if  he  might 
be  good  fun." 

So  it  was  decided  that  the  bishop  and  his 
party  should  join  this  very  young  party. 

But  oh,  what  a  business  it  was  to  mount,  — 
to  see  these  great,  lazy-looking  animals  lie  down, 
to  get  on  to  them,  and  be  suddenly  jerked  up 
somewhere  into  the  air,  and  to  know  that,  after 
one  was  safely  on  and  safely  jerked  up,  it  would 
require  quite  a  long  step-ladder  to  take  one 
down  again,  should  he  wish  to  dismount  in  a 
hurry.  As  for  Mary,  she  would  certainly  have 
come  down,  if  she  could  have  done  so  without 
breaking  her  neck. 

After  the  camels  started  the  children  were 
full  of  glee. 

"  It  seems  as  if  we  were  up  in  the  rigging  of 


ON  THE   GREAT  DESERT  109 

a  ship  and  were  sailing  through  the  bluest,  soft- 
est air,"  said  Jeanne,  and  the  bishop's  daughter, 
who  was  riding  near  her,  said  Jeanne  was  right, 
—  that  was  just  the  way  she  felt  also. 

The  dragoman,  who  spoke  English  perfectly, 
was  greatly  pleased  with  these  tourists ;  and  the 
bishop  kept  smiling,  partly  with  pleasure  be- 
cause he  had  so  soon  been  furnished  with  his 
camels  and  his  guides,  and  partly  because  he 
and  his  companions  were  delighted  with  the 
society  of  their  fellow-travellers. 

The  bishop's  daughter  was  not  yet  twenty 
years  old,  and  she  was  so  charming  that  both 
the  boys  and  the  girls  were  always  trying  for  a 
chance  to  ride  beside  her.  She  told  the  girls 
that  pretty  soon  she  was  to  be  married;  that 
she  and  her  father  lived  in  the  United  States, 
and  that  they  had  met,  in  Jerusalem,  a  gentle- 
man who  was  also  from  the  United  States; 
and  in  answer  to  a  question  from  Calleen,  she 
said  that  somehow  or  other  this  gentleman 
and  she  had  become  engaged  and  were  to  be 
married. 

"  Is  the  gentleman  you  are  to  marry  riding 
on  that  camel  over  by  the  bishop  ? "  asked 
Rosey  Pink. 


110  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Yes  ;  but  how  did  you  know  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know  how  I  know ;  but  I  do  know." 

"  We  all  know,"  said  Calleen ;  "  the  boys  as 
well." 

"  Oh,"  said  the  charming  girl,  whose  name 
was  Antoinette ;  and  then  she  said,  after  a  little 
pause,  "You  are  good  guessers." 

"  Why  don't  you  be  married  here  on  the 
desert  ? "  said  Rosey  Pink,  —  "  your  father  is  a 
bishop." 

Antoinette  laughed  and  blushed  and  looked 
so  pretty  that  the  traveller  who  was  riding  by 
the  bishop,  having  turned  and  caught  sight  of 
the  smiling  face,  immediately  drew  up  his  camel 
beside  her. 

"  Why  are  you  smiling  ?  "  he  asked. 

Rosey  Pink  said,  "  We  are  all  smiling  because 
we  think  it  would  be  a  lovely  thing  if  you  and 
Antoinette  should  be  married  here  on  the  desert. 
What  is  your  name  ?  " 

"  My  name  is  John." 

"  Would  n't  you  think  that  would  be  pleasant, 
John?" 

"  Oh,  the  most  lovely  thing,  and  why  not  ? " 
said  John,  turning  to  the  pretty  girl. 

But  Antoinette  laughed   again,  and   hurried 


ON  THE    GREAT  DESERT  111 

her  camel  on  to  her  father's  side,  John  follow- 
ing close  behind. 

Jeanne  confided  to  Calleen  that  it  was  very 
interesting.  Meantime,  the  boys  had  been 
listening  to  wonderful  tales  which  the  bishop 
was  telling  about  the  Moslems  and  the  Arabians 
and  the  inhabitants  of  Palestine  whose  shores 
they  had  passed ;  and  Mr.  Rattles  had  settled 
himself  by  the  dragoman,  and  very  soon  acquired 
so  much  information  that  he  could  make  him- 
self quite  useful,  assuring  the  children  of  their 
safety  when  the  camels  prepared  to  lie  suddenly 
down  again  at  evening  time  ;  helping  to  build 
the  tents  for  the  night,  and  watching  the  cook  as 
he  made  preparations  for  the  supper,  —  indeed, 
the  cook,  with  his  little  travelling-stove  to  help 
him,  made  such  beautiful  pancakes  that  every- 
body praised  them  heartily,  and  Anno  became 
quite  jealous,  for  she  was  famous  at  home  for 
making  pancakes. 

To  sleep  out  under  the  stars  was  a  wonderful 
delight,  for  really  the  tents  were  hardly  meant 
to  cover  them. 

Mary  asked  the  dragoman  if  there  was  ever 
danger  in  crossing  the  desert. 

*'  Danger  from  what  ?  "  said  he. 


112  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Well,  from  robbers  —  and  things." 

He  answered  quite  slowly,  "  There  is  some- 
times danger,  for  you  see,  the  desert  is  like  the 
ocean,  and  there  is  no  one  upon  whom  we  could 
call  for  protection  ;  generally  on  our  trips,  we 
have  a  good  many  armed,  good-sized  men 
amongst  the  travellers ;  but  you  children  could 
not  make  much  of  a  fight,"  He  looked  at  her 
with  a  very  dubious  expression  in  his  eyes, 
which  expression  and  the  slowness  of  his  speech 
added  very  much  to  Mary's  alarm,  which  had 
been  increasing  momentarily  from  the  time  he 
began  to  speak. 

"  Who  would  be  the  robbers  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Bedouins." 

"  The  people  who  ride  the  beautiful  Arabian 
horses  ?  "  asked  Mary. 

"  The  same,"  answered  the  dragoman. 

Mary  did  not  feel  that  she  could  be  very  much 
alarmed  about  the  Bedouins  ;  she  had  always 
thought  of  them  with  admiration,  their  chief 
characteristic,  so  far  as  she  had  formed  an 
opinion,  being  that  they  loved  their  mothers  and 
adored  their  horses  —  and  rode  like  the  wind. 

"  And  when  shall  we  come  to  an  oasis  ? " 
asked  Calleen. 


ON  THE   GREAT  DESERT  113 

"  Pretty  soon  after  we  start  out  on  our  morn- 
ing journey.  Your  camel  will  tell  you  (for  the 
camel  can  smell  the  water  a  mile  away),  and  he 
will  begin  to  sniff  and  shake  his  head  about  in 
such  a  way,  that  if  you  should  not  know  the 
cause  for  it,  you  would  think  something  very 
serious  was  the  matter  with  him." 

So  Calleen  immediately  went  to  all  the  other 
travellers  and  told  them  what  their  camels  would 
be  apt  to  do  to-morrow. 

And  sure  enough,  they  did  it.  But  the  oasis 
was  very  beautiful  after  travelling  on  the  sandy 
plain,  and  Ernest  said  he  would  like  to  live  here 
forever  where  the  fresh  water  and  the  green 
grass  were  so  delightful. 

"  Huh,"  said  Sam,  "  you  would  pretty  soon 
get  tired  of  this  business,  and  any  way,  you 
know  that  there  are  crowds  of  oases  in  the 
United  States." 

The  girls  took  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the 
oasis  to  get  into  very  close  conversation  with 
the  charming  Antoinette  and  to  examine  the 
beautiful  whiteness  of  the  back  of  her  neck  and 
the  smallness  of  her  ears,  and  they  made  her  let 
her  amber  hair  fall  down  about  her  waist,  be- 
cause they  said  that  Anno,  who  could  be  an 


114  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

excellent  ladies'  maid,  could  put  it  up  for  her  so 
that  it  would  look  better  than  before  she  had 
let  it  down,  and  indeed,  Anno  was  pleased  to 
pass  her  fingers  through  the  bright  scented 
hair  and  to  arrange  it  again  on  Antoinette's 
pretty  head. 

While  her  hair  was  being  arranged  she  was 
telling  the  children  about  Jerusalem,  but  all  the 
time  she  was  telling,  it  seemed  to  be  mostly 
about  John,  — "  There  we  met  John,"  and 
"  When  we  turned  the  corner  John  was  coming 
down  the  street,"  and  "  Whom  should  we  meet 
when  we  came  down  the  street,  but  John,  talk- 
ing to  an  Arab,"  —  so  the  listeners  did  not 
acquire  a  great  deal  of  information  about  Jeru- 
salem proper,  —  only  about  this  temporary 
inhabitant  of  that  city. 

"  But  I  am  in  a  hurry  to  go  on,"  said  Rosey 
Pink,  "  and  to  see  a  troop  of  Bedouins." 

"  Better  not  wish  for  that,"  said  the  drago- 
man, "  they  are  sometimes  dangerous."  And 
Mary,  who  thought  that  now  she  knew  every- 
thing about  the  Bedouins,  said  :  — 

"  They  are  dangerous." 

"  Dangerous  ?  Oh,  how  delightful,"  said  all 
the  boys.     But  the  traveller  whose  name  was 


ON  THE   GREAT  DESERT  115 


John  turned  very  pale  and  looked  at  Antoinette 
with  concern. 

After  that,  he  seemed  to  be  having  a  very 
earnest  conversation  with  the  bishop,  who  said, 
"  Oh,  nonsense,"  and  he  kept  on  having  a  con- 
versation, and  the  bishop  kept  on  saying  "  Oh, 
nonsense,"  while  Antoinette,  who  w'as  sitting 
huddled  up  among  the  children,  looked  with 
some  curiosity  at  her  father  and  at  John. 

"  I  know  what  they  are  talking  about,"  said 
Rosey  Pink. 

"  No,  —  do  you  ?  "  asked  Antoinette. 

"About  the  'Bedouins'  and  the  dangerous- 
ness  of  them." 

"Yes,"  added  Calleen,  "and  I  heard  the 
bishop  say  quite  distinctly —  ' Married,  oh,  non- 
sense.' " 

Then  Antoinette's  face  became  very  red. 
"  Calleen,"  she  said,  "  you  heard  wrong  about 
the  '  married,'  but  I  know  father  said  '  Oh, 
nonsense.' " 

"  He  said  the  other  too,"  insisted  Calleen. 

Everybody  was  busy  looking  for  troops  of 
Bedouins,  and  it  seemed  that  John  had  begun 
to  talk  to  Antoinette  upon  the  subject  which 
had  interested  him  when  he  was  talking  to  the 


116  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

bishop,  for  she  too  said,  "Oh,  nonsense,"  and 
then,  "  What  nonsense,"  and  her  eyes  were 
shining  like  stars  while  her  cheeks  were  rosy 
red. 

"  All  you  children,"  said  John,  —  "  don't  you 
think  it  would  be  a  lovely  thing  to  have  a  wed- 
ding when  we  get  to  the  next  oasis  ?  —  then  the 
girls  could  be  bridesmaids,  and  the  boys  could 
be  '  best  men  '  and  ushers  and  everything  else, 
and  the  cook  could  make  a  fine  wedding  feast 
for  us,  —  for,  do  you  know,  he  says  he  can 
make  ice-cream  out  here  in  the  desert  just  as 
well  as  if  he  was  in  a  house  in  a  city." 

John  had  come  away  from  Antoinette  when 
he  made  this  proposition  and  was  standing  by 
himself.  The  girls  and  the  boys  took  hands 
and  made  a  ring  and  danced  around  him,  crying 
out  —  "It  will  be  beautiful,  —  it  will  be  delight- 
ful,—  it  will  be  splendid,  —  Oh,  let  us  have  the 
wedding ! " 

They  made  such  a  noise  that  the  bishop  came 
to  see  what  was  the  matter,  and  Antoinette 
seemed  to  be  half  laughing,  half  crying. 

John  said,  "  You  see,  Bishop,  that  the  other 
tourists  who  did  us  the  honor  to  choose  us  for 
their  comrades  will  be  very  much  disappointed 


ON  THE    GREAT  DESERT  117 

if  they  cannot  have  this  wedding,  and  where  in 
civilization  could  we  find  such  bridesmaids  and 
such  best  men ;  and  oh,  Bishop,  what  if  the 
Bedouins  should  attack  us,  and  I  should  not 
have  the  right  to  defend  her  ? " 

"  You  certainly  intend  that  I  shall  be  killed 
by  the  Bedouins,"  said  the  bishop,  laughing 
heartily. 

And  when  John  and  the  children  heard  the 
bishop's  cheery  laughter,  they  felt  encouraged, 
and  this  time  they  surrounded  the  bishop,  hav- 
ing dragged  Antoinette  over  to  make  part  of 
the  ring ;  and  they  danced  round  the  bishop 
and  said,  "You  are  our  prisoner,  and  we  cannot, 
cannot  let  you  out  until  you  surrender,  —  and 
promise,  and  we  will  sing,  '  Open  the  ring  and 
take  her  in,  and  kiss  her  when  you  get  her  in ' 
—  and  you  may  take  her,  and  may  kiss  her,  if 
you  will  only  promise." 

And  the  bishop  kept  saying  "  Oh,  nonsense," 
and  "  What  nonsense,"  and  Antoinette  did  not 
say  anything,  but  John  separated  himself  from 
the  others  and  stood  by  the  bishop. 

"  Believe  me,  it  would  be  better  so,"  he  said, 
"and  if  /were  to  be  killed  by  the  Bedouins,  I 
would  like  to  feel  that  she  would  be  my  widow 


118  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

and  would  hare  a  right  to  mourn  for  me  after 
you  and  she  should  go  back  to  the  United 
States." 

"What  nonsense,"  said  the  bishop,  looking 
into  John's  smiling  face ;  "  you  seem  to  be 
pleased  with  the  idea  of  Antoinette's  being  a 
widow."  At  last  the  bishop  said :  "  Well,  if 
I  do  consent,  this  will  be  the  queerest  wed- 
ding I  have  ever  seen,  and  the  queerest  company 
and  the  queerest  surroundings,  —  and  yet  I 
don't  know  but  what  it  would  be  just  as  solemn, 
perhaps  more  solemn,  and  certainly  there  will 
be  all  the  elements  of  youth  and  sincerity 
(added  to  complete  lawlessness).  What  do  you 
say,  Antoinette  ?  " 

Antoinette  said  nothing,  but  the  children  all 
answered  for  her :  — 

"  She  will  be  delighted,  —  she  will  think  it 
the  greatest  fun  that  ever  was,"  and  they  un- 
loosed her  hands  from  theirs  and  gave  her  a 
gentle  push,  singing  out,  "  Open  the  ring  and 
let  her  in,  and  you  may  both  kiss  her  when  you 
get  her  in." 

The  dragoman  was  greatly  pleased  with  the 
idea  of  the  wedding,  and  Anno  said  how  good  it 
would  be  if  everybody  could  be  married  on  the 


ON   THE    GREAT  DESERT  119 

desert,  for  then  there  would  be  no  trouble  about 
dressing  up,  and  no  worry  and  fuss  about  recep- 
tions and  cards  and  presents  and  all  that. 
Then  Roscoe  said  that  if  Anno  thought  that 
way,  it  would  be  a  very  good  thing  if  they 
could  have  their  wedding  now,  but  Anno  said 
that  was  a  different  matter.  She  ivould  like  a 
little  more  fuss  when  she  was  married,  espe- 
cially about  the  veil,  and  the  presents  —  and 
the  cook  said  there  could  be  a  wedding  break- 
fast which  would  be  just  like  any  other  break- 
fast. 

"  Except  that  there  shall  be  ice-cream,"  said 
the  children ;  and  the  cook  promised  that 
there  should  ])e  ice-cream. 

Then  it  was  time  for  the  camels  to  be  brought 
up,  and  to  lie  down  again  and  jerk  the  travellers 
up  into  the  air  and  then  settle  down  into  a  gait 
which  is  used  for  a  ship  at  sea. 

And  when  they  came  to  the  next  oasis  every- 
body was  busy  with  preparations  for  the  wed- 
ding, but  in  the  midst  of  their  preparations 
there  was  a  great  cloud  of  sand  seen  in  the 
distance,  which  cloud  grew  nearer  and  nearer 
till  it  was  so  close  that  the  travellers  could  see 
the  beautiful  horses  and  the  wild-looking  men 


120  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

who  dashed  past  on  the  other  side  of  their  green 
stopping  place. 

The  dragoman  said  "  Bedouins,"  —  and  the 
bishop  said,  "  Now  that  the  enemy  has  passed, 
it  will  not  be  necessary  to  keep  my  promise." 

But  both  John  and  the  children  interrupted 
to  say  very  solemnly,  "  There  will  be  other 
enemies." 

So  the  promise  was  kept,  and  the  beautiful 
wedding  service  ^was  read  out  of  the  Prayer- 
Book  which  the  bishop  carried  in  his  pocket, 
while  the  four  girls  and  Anno  stood  behind 
Antoinette,  and  the  four  boys  stood  behind 
John,  —  and  Mr.  Rattles  and  Remus  and 
Roscoe,  with  the  dragoman  and  the  cook  and 
the  guides,  formed  the  congregation,  and  the 
great  desert,  with  the  sky  touching  it  on  every 
side,  stretched  away  in  the  distance  —  like  a 
picture  in  a  dream. 

The  children  had  done  a  great  deal  of  dress- 
ing up  with  the  green  things  that  they  could 
find  on  the  oasis,  so  that  the  bishop  said  An- 
toinette looked  very  much  like  an  artichoke, 
while  the  bridesmaids  made  him  think  of  green 
radish-tops;  but  it  was  a  charming  wedding 
—  everybody   was    smiling,   and  there    was    a 


ON    THE   GREAT  DESERT  121 

splendid  wedding  feast,  with  pancakes  —  and 
ice-cream. 

The  best  men  acted  as  ushers  and  waited  on 
everybody,  while  the  bridesmaids  sat  on  the 
bank  beside  Antoinette,  and  did  n't  do  a  single 
thing  in  the  way  of  being  useful. 

But  suddenly,  when  everybody  was  feeling 
very  comfortable,  and  John  was  sitting  holding 
Antoinette's  hand,  another  great  cloud  of  dust 
and  sand  rose  on  the  desert,  travelling  very 
quickly  towards  the  oasis ;  and  the  children 
said,  "  Now  we  shall  see  some  more  flying 
horses,"  —  but  the  dragoman  stood  up  and 
looked  towards  the  advancing  cloud,  shading 
his  eyes  with  his  hand  and  looking  very  serious. 
Then  he  said  something  in  an  unknown  lan- 
guage to  one  of  the  guides,  and  going  over  to 
the  pack-camel,  he  took  out  a  small  parcel  and 
put  it  in  his  bosom. 

He  came  over  to  the  bishop  then,  and  said  to 
him  quite  low,  "  If  these  people  should  mean 
mischief,  there  is  nothing  that  we  can  do,  for 
though  the  guides  and  I  are  armed,  and  I  believe 
also  you  and  the  young  man,  the  others  of 
our  party  are  without  weapons  or  the  habit  of 
using  them,  —  and  from  the  size  of  the  sand 


122  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

cloud  they  are  bringing  with  them,  it  is  a  much 
more  numerous  party  than  the  one  which  lately 
passed." 

"  What  would  they  do  to  us  ?  "  asked  the 
bishop. 

"  Take  possession  of  us,  and  decide  upon 
terms  for  a  ransom ;  that  is,  if  we  do  not  at- 
tempt resistance,  —  and  you  had  better  tell  the 
rest  of  the  party  what  we  have  been  talking 
about  before  they  come  up." 

The  rest  of  the  party  did  not  appear  alarmed 
when  they  heard  about  being  taken  prisoners, 
and  about  the  ransom,  —  the  boys  were  rather 
excited  with  the  thought  of  seeing  these  beauti- 
ful horses,  with  a  chance  to  examine  them  and 
to  touch  them,  and  the  girls  shared  in  this 
excitement. 

Pretty  soon  the  Bedouins  came  up,  and 
stopped  at  the  oasis.  They  all  dropped  from 
their  Irtjrscs  in  an  instant,  and  the  leader 
stepped  up  to  the  dragoman,  who  had  come 
forward  ;  then  there  was  a  long  conference,  all 
the  other  Bedouins  standing  immovable  and 
mute. 

"  What  does  he  say  ? "  asked  the  bishop,  as 
the  dragoman  turned  towards  him, 


ON  THE   GREAT  DESERT  123 

"  He  sajs  that  I  can  send  a  guide  back  on 
one  of  the  camels,  to  the  camel-master,  desiring 
ransom-money  for  the  camels  and  the  attend- 
ants, that  they  will  make  terms  with  you  for 
ransom  for  yourself  and  your  daughter  and  her 
husband,  and  that  they  will  keep  the  children." 

"  That  they  shall  never  do,"  said  the  bishop. 

"  And  oh,  father,  cannot  you  ransom  the 
children  also  ? "  said  Antoinette. 

"  I  will  do  anything  to  save  the  children," 
said  the  bishop. 

The  children  heard  what  was  going  on  and 
the  girls  were  very  pale. 

"Never  mind,"  said  Antoinette,  "you  shall 
be  ransomed."  But  the  Bedouins  said  to  the 
dragoman  that  they  preferred  to  keep  the 
children. 

Tom  went  up  to  the  bishop  and  spoke  to  him. 
Of  course  the  Bedouins  did  not  understand  any- 
thing that  was  said  in  English,  —  all  their  talk- 
ing had  to  be  done  through  the  dragoman. 

"  Bishop,"  said  Tom,  "  don't  say  anything  to 
them  about  us  just  now  ;  let  us  all  stay  quiet 
till  the  night  comes  down  to  the  earth,  and  then 
decide  what  is  to  be  done.  You  see  Jack 
O'Nory  and  I  know  a  good  deal  about  Arabian 


124  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

horses,  and  we  know  that  if  you  just  whisper  in 
their  ears  they  will  do  anything  you  want  them 
to." 

"  But  these  are  Arabian  horses,  Tom,  and 
they  would  not  understand  our  language." 

"  They  understand  every  language,"  answered 
Tom,  "  and  we  have  been  counting  the  horses, 
and  there  is  just  the  same  number  as  the  num- 
ber of  our  camels,  so  there  would  be  a  horse 
for  every  one  of  us ;  let  us  '  lay  low,'  Bishop, 
and  '  watch  out,'  and  not  talk  about  the  ransom 
or  anything  else  just  now." 

So  the  bishop  "  lay  low  "  and  "  watched  out," 
and  Tom  and  Jack  with  Ernest  and  Sam  walked 
out  amongst  the  horses  and  watched  them 
drinking  the  clear  spring  water  and  patted 
their  necks ;  and  the  Bedouins  liked  the  boys 
and  were  still  more  determined  to  keep  the 
children. 

Then  the  boys  helped  the  Bedouins  to  clean 
down  the  shining  coats  of  their  horses,  and,  as 
sand  is  not  a  sticky  thing,  they  soon  had  them 
clean  and  bright,  and  polished  so  that  their 
bodies  shone  like  bronze  and  like  silver,  and 
the  Bedouins  showed  the  boys  many  little  tricks 
which  the  horses  could  perform.     After  a  little 


ON   THE    GREAT  DESERT  125 

while  Jack  O'Nory  made  signs  to  one  of  the 
Bedouins  that  he  would  like  to  see  how  they 
made  their  horses  go  so  fast,  —  what  they  said 
to  them ;  so  the  Bedouin  leaned  down  and 
twisted  the  ear  of  his  horse,  and  while  he  did 
so,  he  said  something  and  darted  on  to  the  back 
of  the  horse  which  had  already  started  and  was 
going  like  the  wind. 

When  he  turned  and  came  back  Tom  Murphy 
made  signs,  asking  what  words  he  had  said,  and 
the  Bedouin  said,  "  Kismunalalu." 

Jack  O'Nory  wrote  down  on  a  piece  of  paper 
(which  he  had  in  his  pocket  along  with  a  hun- 
dred other  things),  "Kismunalalu,"  and  then 
he  went  to  every  one  of  the  tourists,  and  to  the 
dragoman  and  to  the  cook,  and  to  all  the  guides 
except  the  one  who  had  gone  back  to  see  about 
the  ransom-money  for  the  camels,  and  taught 
every  one  to  say  in  a  very  low  voice  the  word 
"  Kismunalalu,"  and  he  told  everybody  about  the 
little  twist  which  must  be  given  to  the  left  ear 
of  the  horse. 

"  Because,"  he  said,  "  we  may,  perhaps,  have 
a  chance  to  get  away,  every  one  of  us,  and  if  we 
do,  it  must  be  on  their  horses  ;  and,  dear  Bishop, 
if  we  can.  there  will  be  nothing  to  be  said  about 


126  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

ransoms  ;  and  oh,  how  we  love  you,  because  you 
said, '  I  will  do  anything  to  save  the  children.'  " 

So  the  night  fell,  and  the  Bedouins  let  their 
horses  wander  about,  for  they  knew  they  would 
not  leave  the  green  oasis,  and  there  was  cer- 
tainly nobody  near  who  could  steal  horses  that 
never  went  anywhere  unless  a  magic  word  was 
whispered  into  their  twisted  ears ;  even  the  one 
who  had  told  Tom  Murphy  about  the  magic 
word  felt  no  disturbance  in  his  mind  as  to  that 
matter,  for  what  harm  could  be  done  by  having 
satisfied  the  curiosity  of  a  young  and  thought- 
less boy  ;  and  these  travellers  were  quite  de- 
fenceless, for  even  if  the  dragoman  should  be 
so  foolish  as  to  make  an  attempt  to  escape  on 
the  camels,  the  getting  ready  to  escape  with 
those  noisy  beasts  would  make  confusion  enough 
to  waken  the  inhabitants  of  the  tombs  of  the 
prophets. 

So  these  robbers,  who  had  travelled  far  and 
ridden  fast,  and  who  were  overcome  with  fatigue, 
lay  down  on  one  side  of  the  high  ground,  and 
the  tourists  all  seated  themselves  on  the  other 
side.  These  two  parties  were  entirely  out  of 
sight  of  each  other,  as  there  was  quite  a  hill 
between  them,  and  the  horses  were  eating  the 


ON  THE    GREAT  DESERT  127 

grass  very  near  the  place  where  the  tourists 
were  sitting,  talking  in  a  low  voice. 

"  The  first  thing  to  be  done,"  said  Rosey  Pink, 
"  is  for  you  boys  to  steal  away  and  find  out  if 
the  Bedouins  are  asleep." 

"  Too  soon  yet,"  said  Jack  O'Nory  ;  "  we 
must  give  them  time,  and  while  we  are  giving 
them  time,  we  must,  each  one  of  us,  choose 
which  horse  we  will  take,  for  we  will  have  to 
march  up  to  the  horses,  and  each  one  must  twist 
the  ear  of  the  one  he  has  chosen,  and  whisper 
the  right  word  while  we  are  getting  on.  That  is 
the  way  they  are  educated  —  they  start  before  the 
rider  gets  on.     I  know  that  we  boys  can  do  that 

—  and  all  the  girls  —  but  I  don't  know  about 
Antoinette,  and  the  bishop,  and  Mr.  Rattles. 
You  see  John  cannot  wait  to  put  Antoinette  on, 
because  the  horse  will  start  at  once  and  might 
wake  the  Bedouins  before  we  could  all  get  away, 

—  everybody  must  say  the  word  into  the  ear  of 
his  horse  at  the  same  time." 

Antoinette  said  that  she  had  been  a  rider  all 
her  life,  and  could  get  on  to  a  horse  while  he 
was  running  very  fast,  and  Mr.  Rattles  said,  all 
that  was  necessary  was  to  give  him  the  informa- 
tion which  had  already  been  given.    He  said  that 


128  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

people  who  "  go  down  to  the  sea  hi  ships  "  —  in 
which  way  he  had  spent  his  youth  —  were  always 
pretty  ready  to  jump  quick  Avhen  there  was 
danger,  and  as  there  seemed  to  be  danger  to- 
night, he  was  ready. 

Everybody  else  knew  all  about  jumping  in  a 
hurry  — ■  even  the  bishop,  —  so  the  only  thing 
that  remained  to  be  done  was  for  each  traveller 
to  make  sure  of  the  horse  at  whose  side  he  must 
stand,  when  somebody  should  make  a  sign  and 
the  word  should  be  whispered  into  the  twisted 
ears  of  the  horses. 

Antoinette  had  the  first  choice,  and  she  chose 
a  Avhite  one  with  a  silver  mane,  while  Mary  chose 
a  white  one  with  a  dark  mane.  All  the  girls 
then  had  their  choice,  and  there  were  many  gray 
horses,  but  each  one  had  some  distinguishing 
mark ;  so  the  girls  said,  "  We  will  all  take  the 
gray  ones." 

The  bishop  chose  a  fine  bronze  fellow,  and 
each  person  had  very  soon  made  his  selection 
and  kept  an  eye  on  that  particular  animal,  just 
as  if  it  had  been  bought  and  had  to  be  watched 
because  there  were  thieves  about  who  might 
steal  it. 

Jeanne  said,  "  Is  n't  it  fortunate  that  we  got 


ON  TEE   GREAT  DESERT  129 

through  with  the  wedding  and  the  feast  before 
they  came  ? "  And  John  moved  close  up  to 
Antoinette  again  —  and  took  her  hand  again  — 
which  he  had  been  doing  pretty  steadily  ever 
since  the  marriage  ceremony  had  taken  place. 

It  was  a  pretty  anxious  time,  watching  those 
horses,  for  they  were  perpetually  changing 
places,  and  the  gray  ones  were  forever  getting 
mixed  up  together,  so  the  girls  were  kept  occu- 
pied all  the  time,  sorting  them  out,  with  their 
eyes.  As  for  the  others,  they  were  not  so  hard 
to  keep  track  of ;  and  the  bishop's  choice,  the 
bronze  fellow,  seemed  inclined  to  join  the  party 
for  the  night,  for  he  would  come  up  nibbling 
the  grass  quite  close  to  their  feet. 

At  last,  Mary  said,  "  The  time  is  passing, 
boys  — don't  you  think  you  had  better  see  if  the 
Bedouins  are  asleep  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  the  boys  ;  "  but  first,  do  you  all 
remember  the  word  ?  " 

"  Kismunalalu,"  everybody  said  in  a  whisper, 
"  and  the  twist." 

The  boys  asked  the  dragoman  to  go  with 
them,  and  be  near  enough  to  translate  anything 
a  Bedouin  might  say,  if  he  happened  to  be  awake 
and  to  accost  these  scouts. 

9 


130  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Then  they  stole  away,  each  one  singly  —  to 
the  east,  to  the  west  —  that  they  might  be  sure 
that  on  either  side  there  was  no  one  awake. 

As  Jack  was  passing  round  on  the  east  side, 
one  man  who  was  lying  on  the  ground  suddenly 
sat  up.  He  said  something,  looking  at  Jack 
intently.  Jack  made  signs  to  him  that  it  was 
such  a  fine  night,  he  had  been  tempted  to  walk 
about  in  the  coolness. 

The  man  lay  down  again  and  dropped  asleep 
instantly. 

The  other  boys  had  found  all  the  others  sleep- 
ing pretty  soundly.  As  they  walked  back.  Jack 
said  to  the  dragoman  :  — 

"  What  did  he  say  when  he  woke  up  ?" 

"  He  said, '  Who  called  me  ? '  and  after  you 
had  made  signs  to  him  he  said,  '  I  thought  my 
mother  was  calling  me, '  then  he  immediately 
went  to  sleep  again." 

Oh,  what  a  moment  of  anxiety  followed  when 
every  man  and  woman  and  girl  and  boy  had  to 
take  a  place  immediately  at  the  shoulder  of  the 
horse  which  each  one  had  chosen. 

The  bishop  said  a  little  prayer  that  God 
would  give  them  courage,  would  protect  them 
and   auide  them.     Then  he   said :    "  If  we  feel 


ON  THE   GREAT  DESERT  131 

anxious  about  each  other,  we  will  be  sure  to  fail. 
Let  us  each  trust  that  the  others  will,  at  the 
right  moment,  do  exactly  the  right  thing,  and 
after  we  have  started  we  can  count  and  see  if  we 
are  all  together, —  then,  if  any  one  is  missing, 
we  will  come  back  again,  and  think  only  of  the 
ransoms." 

Then  they  went  out  with  silent  feet,  and  each 
one  placed  himself  or  herself  by  the  selected 
horse.  The  horses  did  not  seem  to  mind  this 
companionship  at  all  —  just  went  on  eating  as  if 
it  was  none  of  their  business  who  should  be  wan- 
dering over  the  grass  with  them. 

It  had  been  arranged  that  so  soon  as  every- 
body had  taken  the  right  place  Antoinette  should 
wave  her  white  handkerchief,  and  when  they  saw 
the  flutter  of  that  white  flag,  everybody  whispered 
the  word  into  the  twisted  ear  of  the  chosen 
horse,  and  in  a  minute  the  horses'  feet  were  beat- 
ing the  ground  in  a  wild  flight,  —  and  every 
Bedouin  had  started  up,  but  too  late  to  do  any- 
thing, for  though  they  had  the  camels,  no  camel 
could  ever  overtake  those  fleet-footed  and  dear 
friends  of  theirs,  who  were  each  moment  press- 
ing farther  away  from  them  on  the  desert. 

When  they  were  past  all  fear  of  pursuit,  the 


132  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

children  said  they  were  very  sorry  for  the  Bed- 
ouins, that  they  had  to  lose  their  horses,  but 
the  dragoman  said  that  was  all  right,  —  they 
would  bring  the  camels  back  and  the  Director  of 
Affairs  would  return  their  horses,  which  would 
be,  in  the  meantime,  well  taken  care  of,  but  they 
would  be  obliged  to  pay  something  for  having 
molested  the  party  of  travellers.  And  so  all 
these  tourists  who  had  departed  from  the  start- 
ing place  on  camels  dashed  into  it  again  on  the 
finest  horses  in  the  world,  —  but  Mr.  Rattles 
said  it  was  quite  time  to  go  home  now. 

So  the  bishop  placed  his  hands  on  the  chil- 
dren's heads  and  blessed  them,  and  Antoinette 
burst  into  tears,  but  as  they  looked  back  and 
waved  their  hands,  they  could  see  that  John  was 
standing  beside  her,  comforting  her,  and  Jeanne 
said  :  — • 

"  What  a  good  thing  it  is  that  now  they  are 
married  and  some  day  we  are  to  see  them  again 
in  the  United  States." 

So  these  tourists  travelled  overland  till  they 
found  their  sail-boat  moored  at  the  shore  where 
they  had  left  it,  and  sailed  away  again  to  The 
Island  Impossible. 


AT  THE   QUEEN'S  DRAWING-ROOM      133 


CHAPTER   VIII 
AT  THE  QUEEN'S  DRAWING-ROOM 

"  /^H!  Mr.  Rattles,  they  are  all  coming  tear- 

^^  ing  down  to  the  boat,"  said  Rosey  Pink, 
"  and  the  sails  must  be  up,  for  we  are  going 
across  the  sea." 

"  Across  the  sea,  is  it  ? "  said  Mr.  Rattles, 
"  and  at  what  part  of  across  the  sea  am  I  to 
land  ?  " 

"  Somewhere  near  London.  Any  way,  we  are 
going  across  to  be  present  at  the  Queen's  Drawing- 
Room,  and  this  is  the  day,  and  we  are  in  a  great 
hurry." 

"  But  where  are  the  captains,  Jack  O'Nory 
and  Tom  Murphy  ?  " 

"  They  are  hurrying  down,  and  I  ran  ahead  so 
that  you  could  know  in  time." 

So  by  the  time  all  the  children  had  arrived  at 
the  wharf,  the  sail-boat  was  ready,  and  they 
started  across  the  sea. 

"  What  must  we  do  first,  when  we  get  to  Lon- 
don ? "  asked  Jeanne. 


134  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Calleen  said,  "  We  must  go  at  once  to  Ambas- 
sador Hay,  and  we  must  order  our  dresses  to 
be  sent  there,  and  then  go  with  him  to  the 
Queen's  Drawing-Room,  for  you  know  we  must 
be  introduced  by  him." 

So  they  arrived,  and  at  once  went  to  Ambas- 
sador Hay's  house. 

The  Ambassador  was  very  glad  to  see  them 
and  so  was  Mrs.  Hay,  who  immediately  asked 
after  the  health  of  everybody  in  the  United 
States. 

Then  the  question  arose  as  to  the  manner  of 
their  introduction  to  the  Queen.  The  children 
insisted  that  they  must  be  introduced  in  a  body ; 
that  it  would  be  much  pleasanter  than  string- 
ing along  one  by  one  and  having  their  names 
called  out.  Jeanne  thought  that  a  good  form  of 
introduction  would  be  for  the  Ambassador  to 
say:  "The  children,  your  Majesty,  from  the 
United  States ; "  but  Calleen  said  that  would 
sound  as  if  there  were  no  other  children  whatso- 
ever in  the  United  States,  and  IMary  said  they 
ought  to  be  presented  by  some  name  which 
would  mean  something. 

Rosey  Pink  asked  why  it  would  not  be  a  good 
plan  to  be  presented  as  Daughters  of  the  Revo- 


AT  THE   QUEEN'S  DRAWING-ROOM      135 

lution,  "  For  you  know,"  she  said,  "  that  every 
one  of  us  girls  has  a  right  to  that  title." 

But  Mary  thought  that  might  hurt  the  feel- 
ings of  the  Queen,  and  suggested  that "  Colonial 
Dames,"  would  be  a  prettier  and  more  high- 
sounding  name  and  could  not  hurt  her  feelings  in 
the  least.  So  it  was  decided  that  the  girls  would 
be  Colonial  Dames,  and  would  wear  the  dress 
for  Colonial  Dames,  while  the  boys  strongly 
objected  to  being  officers  of  Colonial  Wars, 
because  it  might  oblige  them,  if  they  wore  a 
uniform  at  all  (and  they  wished  to  wear  uni- 
forms), to  wear  those  very  unbecoming  ones  of 
that  time  in  American  history.  They  said  that 
they  would  rather  be  admirals  and  generals  of 
the  present  United  States  Navy  and  Army. 

Ambassador  Hay  and  Mrs.  Hay  looked  on 
and  listened  to  this  friendly  altercation  with 
shining  eyes  and  smiling  lips.  Indeed,  they 
appeared  to  think  that  it  would  be  a  very  fine 
thing  for  the  Ambassador  to  have  the  privilege 
of  introducing  these  Colonial  Dames  and  these 
officers  of  the  present  United  States  Navy  and 
Army. 

Then  the  costumes  were  sent  for,  and  Mrs. 
Hay  took  the  girls  away  with  her,  while   the 


136  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Ambassador  took  charge  of  the  boys'  toilet 
arrangements. 

Very  soon  they  all  met  again  in  the  parlor  of 
the  Ambassador's  house,  and  their  admiration 
for  each  other's  appearance  was  very  distinctly 
expressed.  As  Rosey  Pink  and  Calleen  had 
each  owned  a  great-grandmother  who  had  lived 
in  London  and  attended  Queen's  Drawing- 
Rooms,  with  her  hair  dressed  high  on  her  head 
like  a  step-ladder,  and  who  had  been  obliged  to 
go  in  sedan  chairs  instead  of  carriages  to  the 
Drawing-Rooms,  the  other  children  asked  them 
if  they  did  not  feel  very  much  like  those  great- 
grandmothers,  although  they  had  got  the  better 
of  them  by  the  instantaneous  manner  in  which 
their  hair  had  been  elevated  to  great  heights ; 
for  the  tradition  was  well  known  that  in  those 
days  there  were  not  enough  hairdressers  to  go 
round,  and  for  that  reason  many  heads  had 
to  be  dressed  the  day  before,  and  the  unhappy 
ladies  were  obliged  to  sit  up  in  easy-chairs  all 
night  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  beautiful  arrange- 
ment. 

"  Those  were  the  days  of  Sir  Horace  Wal- 
pole,"  said  Calleen,  "  and  Lord  Bacon,  and  —  " 

"  Calleen   gets   mixed,"    interrupted   Jeanne, 


AT  THE   QUEEN'S  DRAWING-ROOM      137 

"  if  we  let  her  go  on,  pretty  soon  she  will  say- 
Oliver  Cromwell  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and 
those  others, — perhaps  William  the  Conqueror." 

The  boys  were  very  quiet.  They  said  nothing, 
but  the  two  admirals  and  the  two  generals 
looked  at  each  other  and  at  the  Colonial  Dames 
in  a  very  friendly  manner. 

Then  it  was  time  to  start  for  the  Queen's 
Drawing-Room.  There  was  a  little  delay 
caused  by  the  Colonial  Dames'  awkwardness  in 
attending  to  their  trains,  but  in  a  very  short 
time  Mrs.  Hay  taught  them  how  to  throw  the 
trains  over  the  left  arm,  where  they  were  to 
keep  them  until  they  entered  the  Queen's 
presence. 

The  children  besought  the  Ambassador  to  let 
them  be  the  very  last  guests  whom  he  should 
present. 

"  Let  all  the  other  United  States  people  come 
first,"  they  said.  And  Mr.  Hay  consented  to 
let  them  have  their  own  way  about  it.  So  when 
the  time  for  presentation  came,  the  Ambassador 
said  :  — 

"  Your  Majesty,  I  present  these  Colonial 
Dames  and  these  admirals  and  generals  of  the 
Navy  and  Army  of  the  United  States." 


138  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Then  immediately  and  suddenly  every  child 
said :  — 

"  God  save  the  Queen,  your  Majesty." 

The  Queen  looked  a  little  curious,  and  one  of 
the  ladies  surrounding  her  said,  in  a  low  voice, 
but  audible  to  the  children  :  — 

"  Her  Majesty  is  certainly  going  to  have  an 
attack  of  hysterics." 

Mary,  who  was  celebrated  for  setting  every- 
body at  her  ease,  said  to  the  Queen,  that  it  was 
a  very  fine  day,  and  they  had  had  a  beautiful 
journey,  and  they  hoped  that  her  Majesty  would 
some  day  come  over  to  the  United  States. 

And  her  Majesty  said  she  would  like  to  do  so 
very  much.  Then  she  turned  to  some  of  the 
high  ladies  surrounding  her,  and  said  that  she 
would  be  pleased  to  have  these  Colonial  Dames 
and  these  officers  of  the  United  States  Navy  and 
Army  a  little  longer  in  her  presence,  and  for  that 
reason  she  wished  that  they  should  take  places 
on  either  side  of  her,  and  witness  the  presenta- 
tions which  yet  remained  to  be  accomplished. 
And  Mary,  still  anxious  that  the  Queen  should 
feel  at  ease  about  these  matters,  said,  that  this 
was  a  very  beautiful  thought  of  her  Majesty's, 
for  naturally  all  these  things  were  new  to  people 


AT  THE   QUEEN'S  DRAWING-ROOM      139 

from  the  United  States,  and  she  certainly  knew 
that  in  no  other  way  could  they  possibly  carry 
away  with  them  such  a  true  idea  of  a  Queen's 
Dra  wing-Room. 

Jeanne  whispered  to  Rosey  Pink  and  Cal- 
leen :  — 

"Don't  you  think  you  had  better  tell  her 
about  the  great-grandmothers  ?  " 

But  Rosey  Pink  shook  her  head  and  Calleen 
said  that  the  Queen  was  too  busy  just  now  to 
be  interested  in  great-grandmothers,  for  indeed 
every  one  was  coming  forward  and  being  pre- 
sented and  then  walking  backward  from  the 
Queen's  presence,  and  some  of  the  magnificently 
dressed  ladies  looked  very  nervous  about  the 
management  of  their  trains,  which  caused  the 
Colonial  Dames  to  take  a  peep  at  theirs  with 
apprehension,  and  to  find  that  they  were  a  good 
deal  bunched  up.  But  some  of  the  ladies,  prin- 
cesses and  such,  who  were  standing  behind,  ar- 
ranged their  trains  for  them  in  proper  shape 
and  relieved  their  minds. 

As  each  high  personage  was  presented,  her 
Majesty  would  spread  out  her  small  hands  on 
either  side,  and  say :  — 

"The    United    States:"    and    the    Colonial 


140  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Dames  and  the  officers  of  the  United  States 
Navy  and  Army  would  make  lo\y  bovrs  and 
curtsies. 

One  very  splendid  Russian,  with  a  name  im- 
possible to  pronounce,  said  something  to  the 
Queen,  to  which  she  answered :  — 

"  Yes,  you  see  I  am  surrounded  and  sup- 
ported by  the  United  States." 

Then  the  Prince  of  Wales  put  his  gloved 
fingers  together  with  a  little  tapping  sound  and 
.immediately  there  was  a  musical  fluttering  noise 
of  gloved  fingers  tapping  against  each  other, 
and  somebody  said,  "  Bravo ! "  and  these  chil- 
dren, who  were  beautiful  singers,  lifted  up  their 
fresh  young  voices  and  began  to  sing  "  God  Save 
the  Queen."  There  was  then  silence  except  for 
these  voices,  which  rose  clear  and  high  in  the 
stillness,  and  as  the  children  took  different  parts 
in  the  music,  there  was  nothing  wanting  which 
could  make  England's  national  hymn  inspiring 
and  beautiful.  While  the  singing  was  going  on, 
the  Prince  of  Wales  gave  an  order  to  some  high 
chamberlain  standing  near,  and  as  the  voices 
sank  into  silence,  a  band  from  somewhere  struck 
up  the  strains  of  "  Yankee  Doodle." 

Then  ensued  the  most  wonderful  silver-toned, 


AT  THE   QUEEN'S  DRAWING-ROOM     141 

gorgeously  dressed,  high  and  mighty  aristocratic 
hurly-burly  that  has  ever  been  heard  or  wit- 
nessed upon  earth,  and  in  the  midst  of  it  all 
every  child  kissed  the  hand  of  her  Majesty,  and 
the  little  United  States  band  slipped  out  of  the 
audience  chamber  as  quietly  as  if  they  had  been 
figures  in  a  dream. 

And  away  and  away  to  The  Island  Impossible. 


142  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  RESCUE 

/^NE  Saturday  they  had  all  started  out,  the 
^^  boys  in  the  sail-boat  without  Mr.  Rattles, 
the  girls  in  the  row-boat  without  Remus,  both  of 
those  captains  having  been  found  asleep  in  the 
boat-house. 

"  That 's  all  right,"  the  children  said.  "  We 
can  do  very  well  without  you ; "  but  neither  Mr. 
Rattles  nor  Remus  woke  up  to  hear  that  they 
were  excused. 

The  children  saw,  looking  in  towards  the 
shore,  that  the  hill  where  they  had  fixed  their 
flag-pole  looked  very  clear  and  fresh  in  the  sun 
to-day,  and  they  concluded  that  it  was  because 
there  had  been  such  a  terrible  rain  that  it  had 
been  washed,  and  then  the  high,  blustering  wind 
had  blown  away  the  leaves  which  had  been  lying 
about  there. 

"As  for  the  wind,"  said  Calleen,  " I  thought 
it  would  blow   the  college  down,  and  take  us 


THE  RESCUE  143 


away  somewhere  on  its  wings,  and  once  I  thought 
I  heard  a  gun,  as  if  there  was  a  shipwreck." 

"  Calleen  will  have  to  write  a  book  when  she 
grows  up,"  said  Jack. 

But  when  they  turned  the  point  and  were 
really  at  sea,  they  were  astonished  to  see  a  large 
vessel  lying  at  some  distance  from  the  rocky 
shore,  and  it  looked  as  if  it  would  sink 
immediately. 

"  A  wreck  !  "  cried  all  the  children,  —  and  a 
wreck  it  was. 

"  Certainly,"  said  Tom  Murphy.  "  She  must 
have  been  on  her  way  to  her  wharf  in  the  city, 
and  the  wind  has  blown  her  on  to  those  sunken 
rocks,  which  lie  out  from  the  point,  and  I  don't 
see  any  one  on  her  decks.  They  must  have  come 
out  from  the  Continent  and  rescued  her  passen- 
gers and  crew." 

"  Any  way,  she  is  sinking,"  said  Ernest, "so  it 
is  a  good  thing  that  all  her  passengers  are 
rescued." 

All  the  children  said  that  the  best  way  would 
be  to  go  over  to  the  other  side  of  her  and  see 
how  she  looked  on  that  side,  and  when  they 
arrived  at  the  other  side  they  found  two  of  her 
passengers  swimming  about  in  the  water. 


144  THE   ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

These  passengers  did  not  seem  to  have  any 
particular  intentions,  —  they  were  just  swimming 
backwards  and  forwards  the  whole  length  of  the 
ship,  and  they  did  not  seem  as  much  pleased,  as 
it  would  have  been  natural  for  them  to  be,  at  the 
sight  of  the  boats  and  the  children,  who  were 
obliged  to  follow  them  about  for  quite  a  while 
before  they  could  attract  their  attention  at  all, 
or  get  any  information  from  them  as  to  who 
they  were,  or  what  they  were  doing  in  the 
water. 

One  of  the  swimmers  had  very  pretty  yellow 
hair,  which  he  had  managed  to  keep  quite  dry. 

Jeanne  confided  to  Mary  that  she  thought  he 
must  be  a  Scandinavian. 

The  girls  were  very  much  pleased  with  him, 
and  decided  that  they  would  follow  him  about  as 
he  swam  up  and  down,  backwards  and  forwards, 
and  would  leave  the  rescue  of  the  other  swimmer 
to  the  boys,  if  indeed  either  one  of  the  swimmers 
wished  to  be  rescued  ;  but  of  that  wish  they  had 
as  yet  given  no  sign.  The  girls  thought  that, 
nevertheless,  it  would  be  pleasant  to  get  into 
conversation  with  the  Scandinavian.  As  they 
considered  it  would  be  impolite  to  at  once  ask 
his  name,  they  said  instead,  "  Good  morning;" 


THE  RESCUE  145 


and  the  passenger  in  the  sea  answered  quite 
politely,  "  Good  morning." 

Then  the  girls  did  not  exactly  know  what 
would  be  the  next  best  thing  to  say  or  to  do. 

Mary,  to  whom  it  was  natural  to  try  to  put 
everybody  at  his  ease,  said :  — 

"  It  is  a  fine  day." 

But  the  passenger  in  the  sea  did  not  agree 
with  her  at  all ;  he  said,  that  if  she  thought  it 
was  a  fine  day,  he  would  not  be  so  impolite  as 
to  say  it  was  not,  but  for  his  part  he  did  not  con- 
sider it  so  :  it  was  very  cold  and  very  wet,  and 
though  he  was  taking  exercise  just  as  hard  as  he 
possibly  could,  he  did  not  seem  to  get  warm  at 
all,  though,  to  be  sure,  he  had  lashed  the  water 
about  till  it  was  a  little  less  freezing  cold  than 
it  had  been  in  the  middle  of  the  night  when  the 
ship  had  suffered  wreck. 

Jeanne,  who  was  gazing  at  his  beautiful  hair, 
asked  where  the  other  passengers  were  and  the 
ship's  crew. 

"  They  have  been  rescued,"  said  the  man  who 
was  taking  all  this  exercise.  "  There  are  only 
two  left  beside  myself,  —  one  of  those  two,  the 
lieutenant,  is  also  taking  exercise  in  the  sea,  as 
I  am  doing.     We  were  both  occupied  examining 

10 


146  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

the  hold  when  the  passengers  were  taken  off,  I 
don't  know  where  the  other  one,  the  artist,  is. 
I  know  that  just  before  we  struck  he  was  paint- 
ing an  execrable  picture  of  some  waves  which 
looked  as  if  the}'  were  made  of  lead-colored  cot- 
ton batting  with  bits  of  white  cotton  batting 
stuck  on  the  top  of  them,  —  he  may  be  doing 
that  still  for  all  I  know.  I  'm  sure  he  was  not 
rescued,  for  I  saw  him  afterwards,  when  they 
were  all  gone  away,  and  I  advised  him  to  come 
down  and  take  exercise  with  me.  He  said  he 
did  n't  think  this  a  good  way  to  get  warm,  and 
he  was  sorry  that  when  the  rescuers  came  he 
had  been  too  busy  examining  his  picture  to  show 
himself." 

The  passenger  went  on  to  say  that  the  lieu- 
tenant and  he  had  been  taking  this  exercise 
pretty  nearly  all  night,  and  certainly  all  the 
morning,  but  they  did  not  seem,  either  one  of 
them,  to  be  getting  very  warm.  All  this  con- 
versation was  going  on  while  the  girls  were  row- 
ing their  boat  up  and  down  and  the  passenger 
was  swimming  apparently  for  dear  life. 

Then  the  lieutenant  joined  the  party,  closely 
followed  by  the  boys,  who  did  not  seem  to  have 
entered  into  conversation  with  their  passenger. 


THE  RESCUE  147 


The  Scandinavian  stopped  a  moment  to  intro- 
duce his  companion. 

"  This  is  the  lieutenant,"  he  said,  "  and  you 
are?—" 

"  The  girls,"  answered  the  children.  "  The 
other  boat-load  is  composed  of  the  boys." 

The  boys  took  off  their  hats. 

"  But  you  have  not  yet  been  introduced  to  us," 
said  Jeanne,  looking  at  the  yellow-headed  pas- 
senger. 

"  This  is  the  violinist,"  said  the  lieutenant. 

"  We  are  glad  to  see  you,  Mr.  Lieutenant  and 
Mr.  Violinist,"  said  all  the  children  at  once, 

"  And  now,"  said  the  passengers,  "  we  must 
resume  our  exercise,  as  we  are  getting  colder 
again." 

"  Just  a  moment,"  said  the  children  ;  "as  we 
have  come  over  to  this  wreck  to  see  if  there  were 
any  passengers  to  be  rescued,  we  think  we  had 
better  set  to  work  to  rescuing  you  both  im- 
mediately." 

The  passengers  in  the  sea  seemed  to  think  this 
was  a  new  and  pleasant  view  of  the  case ;  but 
there  was  further  delay,  as  the  boys  and  the  girls 
began  a  discussion  as  to  which  passenger  should 
be  rescued  by  the  boys,  and  which  by  the  girls. 


148  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Jeanne  thought  the  violinist  ought  to  be  res- 
cued by  the  girls,  because  they  had  already  be- 
come very  well  acquainted  with  him,  and  the 
boys  were  quite  glad  to  take  the  lieutenant,  but 
in  the  meantime  the  swimmers  were  becoming 
quite  impatient.  They  said  they  could  not  wait 
much  longer  for  that  matter  to  be  decided,  as 
they  were  losing  all  the  advantage  which  they 
had  gained  by  their  former  conscientious  ex- 
ercise, so  immediately  Jack  O'Nory  leaned  out 
and  took  the  lieutenant  by  the  hair. 

The  lieutenant  remonstrated.  He  said  that  if 
Jack  would  take  him  by  the  hand  it  would  serve 
his  purpose  just  as  well,  if  not  better,  as  at  any 
rate  his  other  hand  was  already  on  the  boat,  and 
he  was  a  little  particular  about  being  taken  by  the 
hair  ;  so  Jack  and  Tom  accommodated  him  by 
taking  his  hand  and  helping  him  into  their 
boat. 

The  violinist  had,  in  the  meantime,  scrambled 
into  the  boat  with  the  girls,  and  did  n't  seem  to 
mind  shaking  himself  a  good  deal,  so  that  the 
girls  received  quite  a  shower  bath. 

"  I  do  that  because  I  am  wet,"  said  the  vio- 
linist. 

"  So  we  supposed,"  said  the  girls. 


THE  RESCUE  149 


"  In  the  meantime,  what  is  to  become  of  me  ?" 
said  a  voice  away  up  in  the  rigging  of  the  ship. 

"  That  is  the  artist,"  said  the  lieutenant  to  the 
occupants  of  his  boat. 

All  eyes  immediately  looked  up  to  where 
somebody  sat  perched  on  a  cross-bar  with  his 
knees   up   to   his   chin, 

"  Why  did  you  get  up  there  ? "  shouted  the 
children,  speaking  about  as  loud  as  they  would 
speak  if  the  artist  had  been  seated  up  on  a 
horn  of  the  moon. 

"  I  came  up  here,"  said  the  artist,  "  to  pre- 
vent myself  from  being  drowned,  because,  you 
see,  if  this  ship  goes  down  in  a  respectable 
manner  she  will  go  down  straight,  and  up  here 
I  shall  be  above  water,  which  I  should  not  be  if 
I  had  stayed  on  the  deck ;  but  I  think  it  is  very 
likely  that  I  should  be  better  off  now  by  coming 
down  and  getting  into  one  of  your  boats." 

Sam  Holmes  said  in  quite  a  low  voice,  "  Girls, 
you  had  better  take  the  artist."  But  the  girls 
answered  in  the  same  tone,  "  We  don't  want  the 
artist.     Take  him  yourselves." 

The  artist  was,  at  this  moment,  coming 
down  in  a  very  sailor-like  fashion,  hand  over 
hand,  and  he  was  obliged  to  get  into  somebody's 


150  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

boat,  so  the  girls  very  quietly  slipped  away  with 
their  rescued  passenger. 

"  That 's  cool,"  said  Ernest. 

"  Yes,  indeed,"  said  Tom  Murphy ;  "  one  has  to 
be  pretty  wide-awake  if  he  expects  to  get  the 
better  of  those  girls  ;  but  as  the  artist  is  very 
near  us,  let 's  put  a  good  face  on  it  so  that  he 
shall   feel   himself  welcome." 

The  lieutenant  smiled.  He  had  a  taking 
face.  It  was  very  earnest,  very  quiet,  very 
warm-hearted. 

After  the  artist  got  into  the  boat  he  was 
fussy,  he  said  that  a  great  many  of  his  pictures 
were  in  his  stateroom.  He  did  not  believe  they 
could  be  spoiled  yet  by  the  sea,  as  they  were 
all  painted  in  oils,  and  most  likely  they  could 
be  gotten  out  without  danger  to  the  rescuer,  or 
to  the  pictures.  He  would  like  to  get  them, 
but  for  his  fear  that  the  wreck  might  go  down 
while  he  was  trying  to  save  them. 

"  You  boys  are  very  quick  on  your  feet,  I 
suppose,"  said  he.  "  Would  one  of  you  like  to 
go   in   and   save   the   pictures  ? " 

"  No,  I  thank  you,"  said  every  boy,  and  Sam 
Holmes  added  the  information  that  Tom 
Murphy   and    Jack    O'Nory   painted    beautiful 


THE  RESCUE  151 


pictures ;  "  and,"  said  he,  "  I  don't  care  for  any 
pictures  as  I  do  for  theirs.  Ernest,  too,  makes 
beautiful  drawings  of  things  for  bridges  and 
pontoon  boats  and  all  kinds  of  superstructures, 
and  if  you  are  like  those  boys,  you  can  very 
soon  paint  a  lot  of  things  again,  so  I  guess  we 
will  let  those  you  have  already  made  stay  on 
the  wreck." 

"  Oh,  very  well,"  said  the  artist ;  "  if  you  don't 
care  to  see  them  I  '11  have  to  bear  the  loss." 

So  the  boat  set  off  on  its  homeward  way,  and 
when  the  boys  arrived  at  the  beach  they  found 
the  girls  and  the  violinist  sitting  on  logs  in  the 
sunshine,  and  the  violinist  said  he  was  quite 
dry,  and  quite  warm  and  comfortable. 

He  and  the  lieutenant  appeared  to  be  good 
friends. 

"  I  hope  you  feel  rested,"  said  the  lieutenant, 
"  after  our  long  exercise." 

"  I  am  more  than  rested,  I  am  delighted,  and 
if  you  want  to  get  warmed  up  and  quite  happy, 
just  sit  down  on  this  log  and  make  the  girls 
talk  to  you ;  they  are  very  good  fun." 

The  artist  said  that  for  his  part  he  would 
hurry  away  and  get  to  some  comfortable  house, 
for  though  he  had  not  been  in  the  water,  he 


152  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

had  sat  up  in  the  rigging  for  the  greater  part 
of  the  night  and  all  the  morning, —  he  felt  very 
stiff  in  his  bones,  and  it  was  quite  incumbent 
on  him  not  to  get  the  rheumatism,  as  one's 
fingers  are  valuable  to  an  artist,  and  he  was 
quite  sure  that  if  rheumatism  did  attack  him 
his  fingers  would  be  the  first  victims. 

The  children  told  the  artist  that  he  could 
not  find  a  boarding-house  or  a  hotel  nearer  than 
in  the  city  on  the  Continent. 

"  If  you  go  across  the  bridge,  you  will  be  in 
the  city,  and  it  is  just  jammed  and  crammed 
with  boarding-houses." 

"All  right,  I  will  go,  then,  and  to-morrow  I 
will  come  over  and  look  at  the  pictures  of 
which  one  of  you  boys  was  speaking." 

"  It  will  take  you  some  time  to  rest,  Mr. 
Artist,"  said  Jack  O'Xory ;  "  and  I  don't  think 
it  would  be  worth  your  while  to  look  at  our 
pictures." 

"  Perhaps  not,"  said  the  artist ;  "  I  will  bid 
you  good-bye  now,  and  go  to  some  place  where 
I  can  be  comfortable." 

The  violinist  said,  after  the  artist  had  gone, 
that  he  had  not  thanked  the  rescuers  at  all, 
nor  indeed  for  the  matter  of  that  had  he  or 


THE  RESCUE  153 


the  lieutenant  done  so,  but  they  must  be  sure 
that  they  did  thank  them  with  all  their  hearts ; 
—  he  said  that  he  did  not  think  the  loss  of  the 
artist's  pictures  was  anything  to  be  sorry  about. 
"  You  see,"  said  he,  "  his  doctrine  is  that  if 
you  are  going  to  paint  a  ship,  you  must  not 
make  it  look  like  a  ship,  but  you  must  give  out 
a  little  suggestion  that  it  might  possibly  be 
meant  for  a  ship,  which  will  set  the  imagination 
to  working,  and  so  be  useful  to  the  observer." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the  boys. 

The  violinist  said  that  he  would  rather  not 
go  over  to  the  Continent;  that  the  girls  had 
told  him  about  The  Island  Impossible,  —  and 
it  seemed  so  pleasant  here,  he  would  like  very 
much  to  be  an  inhabitant,  and  certainly  in  the 
college  there  ought  now  to  be  courses  of  musi- 
cal education,  and  he  wished  to  be  a  professor 
of  music  there,  if  the  thing  could  be  man- 
aged ;  and  then  he  looked  at  Jeanne's  smiling, 
friendly  face. 

The  children  were  silent,  though  the  girls 
looked  with  inquiring  eyes  at  the  boys. 

Then  the  lieutenant  spoke.  He  said  he  had 
been  told  that  there  was,  near  this  city,  a  fine 
location  for  a  naval  school,  and  had  been  sent 


154  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

to  inspect  it.  That  he  did  not  see  where  that 
location  could  be  if  it  were  not  on  this  beauti- 
ful Island. 

The  children  were  silent,  but  the  boys  and 
the  girls  looked  at  each  other  with  inquiring 
eyes  ;  the  air  was  very  still,  and  the  birds  were 
singing.  Mr.  Rattles  and  Remus  at  a  little 
distance  were  taking  the  oars  out  of  the  boats 
and  furling  the  sails  ;  close  to  the  children's 
feet  the  waves  were  coming  in  with  a  little  song 
of  their  own. 

At  last  Rosey  Pink  said,  "  I  wish  somebody 
would  say  something." 

"  I  think  Tom  Murphy  had  better  say  it," 
said  Mary.  Then  Tom  looked  at  the  other 
boys  and  they  nodded  their  heads. 

Tom  rose  up  and  came  over  to  where  the 
lieutenant  was  sitting. 

He  said,  "  Mr.  Lieutenant,  this  is  our  Island, 
and  we  cannot  give  it  up  to  the  government, 
but  we  like  you  very  much,  and  you  are  one  of 
the  defenders  of  the  United  States.  If  you 
choose  to  build  a  naval  school  next  to  the  col- 
lege you  are  very  welcome  to  do  so  ;  but  the 
Island  belongs  to  us,  and  if  you  build  your 
naval   school,  you  will   have   to   abide   by  the 


TEE  RESCUE  155 


same  rules  that  we  insisted  upon  for  our  col- 
lege, —  that  the  scholars  must  not  come  inside 
the  Island,  —  that  they  must  cross  the  bridge 
coming  and  going  to  the  naval  school." 

One  of  the  children  said,  "  They  may  come 
on  invitation,  you  had  better  say,  Tom ;  for 
instance,  like  Margaret  Parker." 

"  Margaret  Parker  is  all  right,"  assented 
Tom.  "  Her  real  home  is  far  away,  and  when 
she  gets  homesick  she  asks  her  aunt  if  she  may 
come  over  here,  and  as  Ernest  always  takes 
care  of  her,  she  is  very  welcome,  and  I  think, 
Mr.  Lieutenant,  that  we  should  be  pleased  often 
to  have  your  society  as  our  guest  (here 
Jeanne  made  motions  with  her  eyes  towards 
the  violinist),  and  the  society  of  the  violinist, 
who  will,  of  course,  have  no  difficulty  in  form- 
ing his  classes  in  the  college." 

The  lieutenant  and  the  violinist  said  they 
would  be  very  much  pleased  with  the  arrange- 
ment the  children  were  willing  to  make. 

And  they  became  quite  loving  friends  to  these 
young  inhabitants,  and  often  they  joined  them 
in  their  walks  through  the  woods  and  on  the 
shores  of  the  beautiful  Island  Impossible. 

Tom   and   Jack    were   forever    inviting   the 


156  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

lieutenant,  while  the  girls  took  possession  of 
the  violinist,  who  soon  counted  Jeanne  amongst 
his  pupils. 

Jeanne's  progress  was  wonderful,  and  pretty 
soon  she  began  to  make  such  beautiful  music 
with  her  violin  that  the  fathers  and  mothers 
and  the  dear  auntie  on  the  Continent  were 
much  astonished  and  delighted. 

The  lieutenant  was  anxious  that  Jack  and 
Tom  should  go  into  the  naval  school  and  be- 
come officers  in  the  United  States  Navy  ;  and  the 
boys  were  much  influenced  by  him,  for  though 
their  tastes  were  so  strong  for  painting  pictures, 
each  felt  that  he  must  also  take  up  some  other 
profession. 

Tom's  mind,  however,  seemed  to  turn  more 
to  scientific  subjects,  and  the  professor  used  to 
say  quite  often,  "  You,  Tom  Murphy,  must  be  a 
professor  of  science  in  the  college,  just  so  soon 
as  we  widen  our  field." 

Jack's  heart  was  on  the  sea,  so  far  as  profes- 
sions go. 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  157 


CHAPTER   X 

AMONGST  THE  HOP-PI  CKEKS 

THE  children  were  in  the  sail-boat  one  after- 
noon, —  a  fair,  sweet  summer  afternoon, 
so  quiet  on  the  water,  so  blue  in  the  sky. 

A  sloop  came  along  with  three  men  in  it  and 
a  couple  of  women.  The  sloop  sailed  close 
enough  to  hail  their  boat. 

"  Do  you  want  a  job  ? "  said  one  of  the  men. 

"  What  kind  of  a  job  ? "  asked  Jack  O'Nory. 

"  Hop-picking." 

"  What  do  you  suppose  hop-picking  means  ?  " 
said  Rosey  Pink  to  Tom  Murphy. 

"I  don't  know  anything  more  than  a  baby 
does  about  hop-picking,"  answered  Tom. 

In  the  meantime  Jack  and  the  man  on  the 
sloop  were  getting  into  a  conversation. 

"  Hop-picking,"  said  the  man,  "  is  picking 
hops,  —  beautiful  green,  spicy,  scented  things, 
which  are  used  for  making  beer.  When  it 
comes  time  for  picking  them,  no  delay  can  be 


158  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

allowed,  otherwise  they  must  become  worthless. 
We  generally  have  an  army  of  pickers,  but  this 
year,  because  we  did  not  make  our  arrangements 
early  enough,  another  hop  farm  has  engaged  all 
our  men  and  women  and  children.  I  am  out 
looking  for  new  workers." 

Jack  said,  "  Are  those  new  workers  whom 
you  have  in  the  sloop  ? " 

"  They  are,"  said  the  man. 

"  I  don't  think  we  will  take  the  job,"  said 
Jack. 

"  How  many  are  there  of  you  ? "  asked  the 
hop  man. 

"  Eight." 

"  Well,  you  had  better  let  some  of  the  others 
speak.  Maybe  they  won't  all  agree  with  you 
about  not  taking  the  job." 

But  Rosey  Pink  said,  "  We  all  do  always  agree 
with  Jack  O'Nory,  and  all  you  children  who 
have  been  listening  to  this  conversation  and  ob- 
serving the  women  in  the  sloop,  what  do  you 
say  about  it  ?  " 

All  the  children  shouted  out,  "  We  don't 
want  the  job." 

Another  man  in  the  sloop  began  to  talk. 

"  It  is  a  very  clean  business,  and  the  pickers 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  159 

are  paid  according  to  the  number  of  bushels 
they  pick.  You  children  look  as  if  you  might 
be  very  handy  and  earn  quite  a  little  pocket- 
money  every  day." 

"  We  don't  care  for  pocket-money.  There 
are  no  shops  on  The  Island  Impossible,"  said 
Calleen. 

"  But  besides  that,"  continued  the  man, "  it  is 
so  beautiful  in  the  hop  country ;  the  rivers  flow 
between  flowery  banks,  and  the  woods  are  full 
of  singing-birds." 

"  We  have  woods  full  of  singing-birds  here," 
said  Jeanne. 

"  But  no  rivers,"  insisted  the  hop  man. 

"  No,  no  rivers ;  but  we  have  the  sea,  and  the 
bay,  and  the  inlet." 

"  Nothing  compared  to  our  rivers." 

The  women  on  the  boat  remained  silent. 
They  looked  sullen,  and  the  man  at  the  helm 
did  not  say  a  word.  He  seemed  busy  listening 
to  the  first  speaker,  who  was  leaning  towards 
him  talking  in  a  low  tone,  and  the  sloop  was 
coming  every  minute  nearer  to  the  children's 
boat. 

The  children  had  not  put  their  sail  up,  —  had 
been  just  rowing  about  in  the  smooth  water,  and 


160  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

were  now  lying  quiet,  having  stopped  rowing. 
They  thought  the  other  boat  was  coming  nearer 
simply  for  purposes  of  conversation,  but  they 
suddenly  found  her  right  at  their  bow,  and  by 
that  time  the  expert  hop  man  had  passed  a  rope 
through  the  ring  at  the  bow  and  was  rowing 
away  with  them  in  tow,  while  the  two  men  at 
the  helm  were  busy  hoisting  extra  sails. 

"  That 's  pretty  clever,"  said  Tom  Murphy,  in 
a  low  voice,  "  and  very  dishonest." 

"  They  are  bound  to  have  us  for  hop-pickers/' 
said  Calleen. 

"  Is  it  a  rope  or  a  chain  they  have  fastened 
us  with  ? "  asked  Mary. 

The  boys  stepped  forward  to  examine. 

"  It  is  a  chain,"  they  said,  "  for  about  a  yard 
and  a  half,  and  the  two  ends  of  the  chain  are 
fastened  to  a  rope.  At  that  distance  from  our 
boat  we  might,  if  we  should  hoist  our  sail,  out- 
sail them,  and  so  the  chain  would  slack  up  and 
we  could  reach  the  rope  and  cut  it." 

"  Don't  let 's  do  anything  about  it  yet,  boys," 
said  the  girls.  "  Let 's  go  along  as  if  we  did  n't 
mind,  and  by  and  by  we  can  hoist  the  sail  and 
put  on  more  speed,  and  get  at  the  rope.  In  the 
meantime  we  might  take  a  run  up  some  of  those 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  161 

rivers  they  were  talking  about."  So  the  children 
kept  quiet  in  their  boat,  while  the  sloop  was  a 
pretty  good  distance  ahead  of  them,  the  rope 
being  quite  a  long  one,  which  now  and  then, 
when  the  wind  changed,  dipped  into  the  water, 
so  that  it  would  have  been  easy  to  draw  the 
chain  in  and  get  at  the  rope  to  cut  it. 

"  But,"  said  the  children  to  each  other,  "  it  is 
very  pleasant  going  through  the  water  this  way, 
and  no  trouble  in  the  world,  and  the  rivers 
might  be  worth  looking  at,  and  as  we  can  at  any 
minute  get  free,  let 's  enjoy  ourselves  here  for 
the  present." 

Pretty  soon  they  came  to  a  river  which  truly 
was  beautiful,  with  the  woods  reaching  down  to 
the  water's  edge,  and  pretty  summer-houses  and 
open  spaces  between  where  children  were  play- 
ing, who  called  out  "  Hurrah  !  Hurrah  !  "  as  the 
boats  sailed  past;  and  there  were  cosy  nooks 
here  and  there  where  little  row-boats  were  lying 
quiet,  each  with  two  passengers,  who,  the  chil- 
dren all  said,  "were  lovers."  And  truly  the 
river  was  beautiful,  and  the  air  was  full  of 
lovely  smells  and  the  singing  of  birds. 

The  women  in  the  sloop  began  to  sing,  and 
pretty  soon  the  men  joined  in.  They  did  not 
11 


162  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

speak  to  the  tenants  of  the  boat  they  had  taken 
prisoner,  nor  did  the  children  try  to  attract 
their  attention  in  any  way. 

"  But  truly  the  singing  is  beautiful,"  said 
Sam  Holmes ;  "  and  when  they  stop,  let 's  give 
them  a  song." 

*'  What  shall  we  sing  ? " 

"  Oh,  some  lilting  thing." 

So  when  the  singers  in  the  other  boat  had 
ended  their  song,  the  silence  was  broken  by 
these  young  voices. 

Far  away  on  breezy  meadows, 

Waiting  for  our  feet, 
To  and  fro  the  changing  shadows 

Dance,  and  part,  and  meet. 
Singing  low,  —  singing  high, 
While  the  dancing  shadows  tly 

O'er  the  meadows  wide ; 
While  the  sleeping  shadows  lie 

On  the  mountain  side. 

Far  away  on  upland  meadows 

Lie  the  coming  years. 
What  have  they  of  lights  and  shadows, 

What  of  smiles  and  tears  ? 
Sing-ing  hiffh,  —  singino;  low, 
Onward,  forward  we  must  go, 

Whatsoe'er  betide. 
And  the  angels  watch,  we  know, 

On  the  other  side.  . 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  163 

When  the  children's  song  was  ended,  and  the 
air  was  so  quiet  that  one  could  hear  the  little 
slow  ripples  washing  the  shore,  the  people  in 
the  sloop  began  to  clap  their  hands  and  to 
say:  — 

"  That  is  beautiful  singing." 

"  And  somehow,"  said  one  of  the  men  to  the 
others,  "  it  makes  me  feel  a  little  sorrowful,  and 
I  would  like  to  be  a  child  again." 

After  awhile  the  sloop  passed  out  of  the  river 
into  a  canal,  which  was  a  strange  waterway  to 
these  passengers,  whose  home  had  always  been 
near  the  sea. 

It  was  wonderful  to  see  the  sloop,  her  sails 
having  been  taken  down,  enter  into  this  little 
lane  of  water,  so  close  to  the  shores  that  any 
one  standing  on  the  land  could  easily  stretch 
out  a  hand  to  the  people  in  the  sloop  and  the 
sail-boat ;  and  really  it  seemed  a  sociable  kind 
of  way  to  be  travelling,  for  the  houses  were  close 
to  the  water,  and  everybody  seemed  to  have  a 
word  to  say  to  the  new  boats.  A  rope  from  a 
canal-boat,  which  looked  to  ihQ  children's  eyes 
like  a  house,  was  soon  attached  to  the  sloop, 
while  the  men  aboard  the  sloop  drew  up  the  little 
sail-boat  till  its  bow  nearly  touched  the  stern. 


164  7UIE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Then  some  horses  which  had  been  standing 
under  a  shed  started  off,  and  one  could  see 
that  they  were  attached  to  long  ropes  ;  and  after 
they  had  gone  a  little  way,  the  canal-boat,  to 
which  those  long  reins  had  been  fastened, 
started  off  drawn  by  the  horses. 

"  Well,  that  is  wonderful,"  said  Tom  Murphy, 
—  "drawn  by  horses,  but  travelling  on  the 
water." 

And  after  a  time  they  entered  a  lock  where 
there  was  a  fence,  as  if  they  had  come  into 
somebody's  yard  ;  and  then  there  was  a  great 
splashing  and  dashing,  and  they  felt  themselves 
sinking  down,  and  did  n't  know  what  was  to 
come  next.     But  they  passed  safely  through. 

Pretty  soon  they  grew  tired  of  watching  the 
ducks  and  the  geese  coming  down  to  swim  in 
this  watery  street ;  tired  of  looking  at  the  pretty 
curtains  in  the  windows  of  the  houses,  and  of 
the  people  taking  their  supper  under  the  trees, 
and  they  all  wanted  to  go  home.  But  in  a  short 
time  the  sloop  untied  its  tow-line  from  the 
canal-boat  and  entered  the  river  again. 

"  Mr.  Hop  Man,"  said  Jack  O'Nory,  "  why  did 
we  go  into  that  narrow  lane  ?" 

"  Because,"  answered  the  hop  man,  "  the  river 


AMONGST   THE  HOP-PICKERS  165 

makes  such  a  long  turn  there,  so  it  was  shorter 
to  come  by  the  canal,  and  easier." 

The  children's  boat  was  again  a  long  way 
behind  the  sloop. 

Tom  Murphy  said,  "  The  next  time  the  wind 
changes  so  that  the  rope  dips  we  must  draw  it 
in  and  cut  it  in  a  minute.  I  hope  we  can  do  it 
when  they  are  are  not  looking." 

"  And  we  will  have  to  go  back  by  the  river," 
said  Jack  O'Nory,  "  even  if  it  is  a  long  way 
round,  for  I  don't  think  we  could  tackle  that 
canal  business  very  well  by  ourselves." 

The  men  on  the  sloop  seemed  to  be  pretty 
nearly  asleep,  so  when  the  wind  changed  and 
the  rope  dipped  into  the  water,  Tom  Murphy, 
who  had  a  sharp  knife  in  his  hand,  drew  it  in 
quietly  and  quickly  and  they  were  free. 

"  Look,  look  ! "  cried  one  of  the  women,  and 
immediately  the  men  were  all  on  their  feet.  It 
took  them  hardly  a  minute  to  turn  their  sloop 
and  go  after  the  children,  who  had  had  no  time 
to  hoist  sail,  though  they  had  turned  back  and 
were  rowing  as  if  for  their  lives  away  from  their 
captors. 

But  in  vain,  for  the  sloop  soon  came  up  with 
them,  and  the  three  men  forced  them  all  to  get 


166  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

into  the  sloop,  while  they  again  attached  a  line 
to  the  little  forsaken  sail-boat  and  towed  it  after 
them. 

One  of  the  women,  who  looked  cleaner  and 
kinder  than  the  other  two,  said  to  Tom  Murphy  : 

"  What  did  you  do  that  for  ?  They  are  very 
strong  and  very  wily." 

"  I  think  they  are,"  said  Tom. 

After  a  very  dreary  time,  the  sloop  drew  up 
at  a  wharf  and  anchored  with  the  sail-boat  close 
at  her  stern.  The  children  were  obliged  to  fol- 
low their  captors  up  through  a  pretty  lane,  till 
they  came  to  the  hop  gardens,  where  indeed  the 
climbing  hops  had  a  friendly  look,  and  their 
spicy  perfume  seemed  to  pat  new  heart  into 
these  travellers,  who  were  none  of  them  very 
easily  cast  down. 

It  was  supper  time  when  they  got  to  a  house, 
and  they  were  taken  into  a  long  room  with  long 
tables  down  the  middle  of  it,  and  with  the 
queerest  company  any  one  could  dream  of 
seated  at  the  tables. 

There  were  Indians  and  squaws  and  people 
of  all  nationalities,  and  there  were  many  young 
men  and  women,  who  were  talking  of  a  dance 
thev  were  to  go  to  that  night,  and  who  seemed 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  167 

to  think  that  hop-picking  was  the  greatest  lark 
in  the  world. 

Bat  the  children  felt,  strangely  and  a  little 
sorrowfully,  out  of  place.  They  longed  to  be 
back  at  The  Island  Impossible,  and  would 
gladly  have  stolen  out  and  unhitched  the  tow- 
line  and  started  off  in  the  moonlight  for  home  ; 
but  how  small  their  strength  was  compared  to 
that  of  these  rough  men. 

Everything  looked  picturesque  enough,  if  only 
they  could  not  have  been  in  it,  but  could  have 
looked  at  it  like  a  picture,  from  a  distance. 

After  a  while  a  woman  with  a  white  apron 
and  a  motherly  face  came  towards  them. 

"  She  is  the  house-mother,"  said  Mary. 

The  woman  said,  "  Come  with  me  and  I 
will  give  you  a  place  at  the  table,  but  you  look 
tired." 

"  We  are  tired,"  said  Jeanne. 

Rosey  Pink  wouldn't  speak.  She  was  alto- 
gether too  indignant  to  have  any  words,  —  for 
a  set  of  children  to  be  stolen  in  this  way,  she 
thought  was  just  as  bad  as  stealing  men  and 
women  from  Africa  to  make  slaves  of  them. 

And  these  people  intended  to  make  slaves  of 
them  and  force  them  to  do  work   which  she, 


168  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

for  one,  would  not  do  under  the  circumstances. 
She  had  no  doubt  that  hop-picking  might  be 
pleasant  work,  but  not  for  children  who  had 
been  treated  as  they  had  been.  She  would 
not  even  answer  the  motherly  looking  woman, 
but  sat  down  in  the  place  which  was  shown 
to  her  pretty  jerkily,  Mary,  who  had  the  next 
seat,  put  her  hand  under  the  table  on  Rosey's 
knees,  and  gave  her  a  little  tap  of  fellowship ; 
so  pretty  soon  that  cross  girl  had  to  smile  a 
little,  while  the  boys,  who  were  seated  on  the 
men's  side  directly  opposite  the  girls,  tried  to 
make  the  best  of  it,  and  Jack  O'Nory  leaned 
over  to  Rosey  Pink  and  said :  — 

"  Rosey,  this  is  a  lark." 

'•  Is  it  ? "  said  Rosey. 

"  Of  course  it  is.  What  do  you  think  about 
it,  Tom?" 

"  I  think  it  is  a  lark,  and  a  very  large  one. 
I  don't  know  whether  it  is  an  interesting  one 
or  not,  but  you  girls  must  take  your  supper, 
for  to-morrow  will  be  a  hard  day." 

"  And  an  escaping  day,  I  hope,"  said  Calleen. 

"  Pretty  soon,  when  night  comes,"  said  Jeanne, 
"we  will  be  separated.  You  boys  will  be  put 
with   the   men,  and  we   girls  —  four   miserable 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  169 

girls  —  will  have  to  go  into  rooms  with  all 
these  miserable  women,  and  I  wish  we  were 
at  home." 

"  So  do  I,"  said  every  child. 

After  the  supper  was  over,  people  were  al- 
lowed to  go  wherever  they  chose,  but  the  chil- 
dren knew  that  if  they  all  absented  themselves 
at  the  same  time,  there  would  soon  be  search 
made  for  them.  So  they  contented  themselves 
walking  about  amongst  the  hop  vines. 

The  house  was  a  long,  low  one  with  a  roofed 
piazza  extending  the  whole  length  of  it,  with 
pine  sofas,  which  the  motherly  woman  called 
settles.  There  were  many  of  these  settles,  and 
Calleen  said  they  would  make  very  good  beds. 
The  mooonlight  made  the  whole  place  look  very 
sweet  and  like  a  picture,  and  the  hop  vines 
shone  like  silver.  After  a  while  the  young 
men  and  women  started  off  for  the  dance,  and 
it  didn't  seem  to  the  children  that  there  was 
any  account  taken  of  the  possibility  of  miT/ 
one  going  to  bed. 

At  last,  the  house-mother  came  out  and  said 
that  the  beds  were  ready.  The  women's  beds 
were  put  on  the  floor  in  the  dining-room, 
stretched  along  on  each  side  of  the  tables. 


170  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  We  have  always  had  good  bedrooms  before 
this  summer,"  said  the  house-mother,  "  but  in 
the  spring  the  farm-house  was  burned  down 
and  nobody  has  time  to  build  in  the  busy 
season,  so  we  must  be  content  with  this  for 
this  year,  and  all  the  women  have  to  sleep 
together.  The  men's  room  is  upstairs,  and 
that  is  where  you  boys  must  sleep." 

The  boys  said,  "Thank  you,"  but  all  the 
children  said  they  were  not  yet  ready  for 
bed. 

After  awhile  it  grew  so  late  that  the  house- 
mother came  after  them  again.  She  said  they 
would  have  no  strength  for  to-morrow's  work, 
and  they  had  better  get  all  the  sleep  they  could, 
so  that  they  would  be  able  to  earn  "  a  pretty 
penny."  And  the  children  followed  her  quite 
disconsolately  to  the  sleeping  places,  —  the  girls 
had  to  step  across  many  of  the  beds  before 
they  came  to  those  set  apart  for  them ;  and 
they  all  decided  that  they  would  lie  down 
dressed  as  they  were.  They  could  not,  one 
of  them,  drop  asleep,  so  they  lay  there  with 
their  eyes  open  and  holding  each  other's  hands 
till  the  people  came  home  from  the  dance  at 
midniglit.     And  these  young   women  made  so 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  171 

much  noise  that  the  other  women  all  woke  up, 
and  began  to  grumble.  Then  after  a  while  all 
was  quiet,  except  for  the  heavy  breathing  of 
the  sleepers,  and  the  air  became  very  close. 

"  I  am  going  to  suffocate  with  this  air  right 
away,"  said  Rosey  Pink. 

"  I  guess  you  mean  without  this  air,"  said 
Calleen,  "  for  there  is  n't  a  single  whiff  of  air 
in  the  room." 

"  Couldn't  we  get  out  and  lie  down  on  the 
settles  ?  "  asked  Jeanne. 

"  Oh !  if  we  could,"  Mary  said,  "  but  how 
could  each  one  of  us  pass  over  all  those 
sleepers  without  disturbing  them." 

"  We  could  if  they  were  railroad  sleepers," 
said  Calleen. 

Mary  said  very  quietly,  "  Calleen  must  have 
her  little  joke." 

"  Pretty  good  thing  that  she  can  in  this  place," 
said  Jeanne. 

However,  tliey  decided  that  they  would  try 
for  the  door,  and  one  by  one  they  stepped  across 
the  sleepers. 

One  young  woman  was  awake.  She  said 
quite  low :  — 

"  What   are  you   young   ones    going  to   do  ? 


172  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

Three  of  you  have  stepped  over  me,  and  now 
here  is  the  fourth,  and  you  disturb  my  medi- 
tations." 

"  We  are  going  outside  for  a  little  air,"  said 
Mary.     "  It  is  very  close  in  here." 

"  I  don't  blame  you,"  said  the  woman,  who 
was  young  and  pretty.  "  It  is  close,  and  I 
would  go  out  with  you,  but  I  am  trying  with 
all  my  might  to  go  to  sleep,  so  as  to  feel  well 
to-morrow.  I  had  such  a  good  time  at  the 
dance  that  the  thought  of  it  is  keeping  me 
awake.  When  you  come  back,  don't  wake  me 
up  if  I  am  asleep  by  that  time.     Good  night." 

The  girls  did  not  lie  down  on  the  settees,  as 
they  had  expected  to  do.  They  sat  crowded 
together.  The  air  was  warm  and  fresh,  and 
they  were  so  homesick  that  the  tears  were 
lying  on  their  cheeks. 

Pretty  soon  they  heard  a  noise  overhead,  but 
it  did  not  frighten  them  as  it  would  have  done 
if  they  had  not  already  felt  so  miserable.  After 
a  while  they  heard  the  noise  again,  as  if  some 
one  was  creeping  on  the  roof  of  the  piazza,  and 
then  something  showed  itself  just  at  the  edge 
of  the  roof.  Was  it  a  head  ?  Was  it  a  thief  ? 
And  they  stood  up  together. 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  173 

"  Huh,"  said  the  head.    "  Are  you  the  girls  ?'* 

"  Yes,  we  are  the  girls,"  they  answered  in  a 
whisper.     "  Are  you  Tom  Murphy  ?  " 

"  I  believe  I  am,"  said  the  head.  "  Were  you 
very  uncomfortable  ? " 

"  We  were  smothered.    Were  you  smothered  ? " 

"  We  were,  but  that  was  not  the  worst  part  of 
it." 

"  What  did  you  have  worse  ?  " 

"  They  snored." 

"  Oh  !  "  said  the  girls. 

"  I  think  we  will  come  down  and  sleep  on 
those  settees." 

"  You  would  make  too  much  noise  getting 
down." 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it.  It  is  n't  far  to  the  ground, 
and  we  would  n't  make  any  more  noise  than 
four  cats  jumping  down." 

"  Then  do  for  mercy's  sake  come,  for  we  are 
very  lonely  and  we  are  all  crying." 

"  That 's  because  you  are  girls.  We  have  n't 
been  crying  a  bit,  but  we  have  been  learning 
to  understand  how  it  is  that  men  take  to 
swearing." 

"  You  should  n't  say  anything  so  dreadful  as 
that." 


174  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Well,  girls,  there  is  no  use  in  trying  to  argue 
with  you  in  a  whisper,  and  Jack  has  hold  of  me 
by  the  heel,  so  I  must  draw  back  and  explain  as 
to  Avho  is  on  the  piazza,  and  pretty  soon  you  will 
see  us  dropping  down  on  the  north  end,  where 
the  grass  is  very  thick  and  where  the  sleepers 
are  not  so  thick." 

The  girls  held  their  breaths,  and  at  every 
little  noise  overhead  they  were  filled  with  alarm, 
lest  somebody  should  wake  and  inquire  into 
what  was  going  on. 

Pretty  soon  one  after  another  of  the  boys 
crept  up  to  the  settee  where  the  girls  were 
sitting. 

"  This  is  a  curious  kind  of  a  lark,"  said  Sam 
Holmes ;  "  but  Mary,  oh  !  Mary,  your  face  is  wet 
with  tears." 

"  All  our  faces  are  wet  with  tears,"  said 
the  other  girls,  "  but  you  don't  notice  it, 
Sam." 

"  Well,  just  wait  a  minute.  Mary,  give  me 
your  pocket  handkerchief,  and  after  I  have 
dried  yours,  I  will  attend  to   the   other  girls." 

Jack  O'Nory  said  :  "  We  have  to  whisper  here, 
and  we  cannot  make  any  arrangement,  and  you 
know  we  have  to  get  away." 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  175 

All  the  girls  took  heart  at  this  speech,  and 
proposed  that  they  should  quietly  steal  away  in 
the  grass  to  an  arbor  where  they  would  be  con- 
cealed from  all  wakeful  eyes,  and  where  their 
voices  could  not  be  heard  from  the  house. 

So  they  stole  away,  and  Jack  O'Nory 
said  :  — 

"  Of  course,  we  are  lonely  and  some  of  us  have 
been  crying,  and  I  am  thinking  of  the  dear 
Island  Impossible.     And  of  the  lieutenant." 

"  And,"  said  Rosey  Pink,  "  we  are  thinking  of 
The  Island  Impossible,  and  the  violinist,  espe- 
cially Jeanne." 

"  And  we  have  to  get  away,"  said  Tom 
Murphy. 

"  What  is  to  prevent  our  going  down  to 
the  boat  and  getting  away  now  ? "  asked 
Mary. 

The  boys  said  there  was  really  nothing  to 
prevent,  so  the  children  immediately  rose  and 
walked  through  the  pretty  lane  and  down  to 
the  water's  edge,  where  they  found  the  sloop 
anchored  and  their  own  sail-boat  lying  at  its 
stern. 

But  there  was  a  boy  asleep  on  the  sloop.  He 
woke  up  and  asked  them  what  they  wanted. 


176  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  We  want  to  get  into  our  own  boat,"  said 
Tom  Murphy,  quite  brave  when  he  found  that 
they  had  only  a  boy  of  about  their  own  age  to 
deal  with. 

"  But  I  have  been  ordered  to  take  good  care 
of  that  boat." 

"For  the  owners,"  said  Jack  O'Nory,  "and 
we  are  the  owners." 

The  boy  seemed  to  be  a  little  disturbed  in  his 
mind.     He  scratched  his  head  and  said :  — 

"  Are  you  the  owners  ? " 

"Yes,  we  are  the  owners,"  spoke  up  Rosey 
Pink,  "  and  we  are  very  much  obliged  to  you  for 
taking  good  care  of  our  boat  so  far.  Now  we 
will  take  it  away,  and  you  can  go  to  sleep  in 
peace." 

The  boy  still  looked  disturbed.  He  said 
nothing  but  watched  the  passengers  attentively, 
and  saw  that  they  were  quite  familiar  with  the 
belongings  of  the  sail-boat,  and  the  manner  of 
unloosing  her  sails. 

So  the  little  company  of  mariners  started  off 
on  their  homeward  journey,  and  didn't  in  the 
least  mind  taking  the  longer  way  round  by  the 
river,  though,  as  they  passed  the  entrance  to 
the  canal,  they  looked  with  interest  at  the  canal- 


AMONGST  THE  HOP-PICKERS  177 

boat  which  was  making  its  way  slowly  along, 
while  the  man  who  was  riding  on  one  of  the 
horses  was  singing  a  low,  monotonous  song, 
which  floated  into  the  air  like  a  song  that  is 
heard  in  a  dream. 


12 


178  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 


CHAPTER  XI 

COMMISSIONERS 

"  \X  7E  are  commissioners,"  said  Tom  Murphy. 
^  ^  "  Commissioners  to  where  ?  "  asked  the 
others. 

"  To  some  island  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Just 
as  Jack  and  I  were  coming  round  the  point,  we 
were  hailed  by  another  boat,  and  an  officer  in  a 
naval  uniform  called  out :  — 

"  Will  you  do  something  for  the  Government  ?  " 

Jack  said,  "  Of  course  we  will." 

Then  the  officer  gave  us  a  long  string  of  talk 
and  ended  by  saying  :  — 

"  The  United  States  is  very  desirous  that  this 
island  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  shall  receive  immedi- 
ate information  in  a  matter  of  importance,  and 
the  ships  are  very  slow.  But  we  have  heard  that 
you  can  make  long  journeys  in  an  hour  or  two, 
so  we  thought  if  you  would  be  the  commis- 
sioners to  carry  and  present  this  important 
document,  it  would  give  the  Government  great 
satisfaction." 


COMMISSIONERS  179 


Jack   said :    "  How  many  commissioners   do 
you  want  ?     There  are  eight  of  us." 

"  Eight  is  a  very  good  number,"  said  the  officer. 
"  Then  he  handed  out  these  pins  and  stars  and 
things  with  which  to  adorn  the  eight  commis- 
sioners—and Jack  has  the  document." 
Mary  immediately  rose  to  her  feet. 
"  If  we  are  to  wear  these  pins  and  stars  and 
things,"  she  said,  "  we  must  all  go  and  make 
ourselves  otherwise  beautiful  before  we  start. " 

Jack  O'Nory  had  joined  them  now,  and  the 
boys  agreed  that  it  would  be  right  for  all  the 
commissioners  to  look  as  handsome  as  possible. 
So  at  last  they  came  down  to  the  pier,  gor- 
geous, and  Mr.  Rattles  said  they  certainly  looked 
as  if  they  mic/ht  be  going  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  — 
or,  indeed,  to  the  palace  of  the  Czar,  for  they 
were  so  dressed  up  that  he  hardly  knew  them. 

"What  do  you  suppose  is  the  document  that 
is  in  Jack  O'Nory's  charge  ?"  asked  Calleen. 
Nobody  could  answer,  for  nobody  knew. 
"  And  how  shall  we  know  the  place  when  we 
get  to  it  ?  "  said  Mary. 

Then  it  was  ascertained  that  nobody  knew 
that  either.  Tom  thought  that  perhaps  the 
naval  officer  might  have  told  them  about  that 


180  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

in  his  long  string  of  talk,  but  he  did  n't  think 
that  either  Jack  or  he  had  been  listening  very 
attentively,  and  so  perhaps  they  had  lost  some 
information  which  they  ought  to  have  received. 

"  Look  at  the  document.  Jack,"  said  Tom. 

But  the  document  was  simply  addressed  to 
"  His  Excellency  the  President." 

Jeanne  suggested  that  there  was  a  Dutch 
president  somewhere  down  in  Africa. 

"One  thing  the  naval  officer  said  very  dis- 
tinctly," answered  Jack,  "  and  that  was,  '  An 
island  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.' " 

So  after  consultation  with  Mr.  Rattles  it  was 
decided  that  they  should  sail  away  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  and  land  at  the  first  island  they 
should  see  which  might  look  as  if  it  had  any  pre- 
tensions to  a  president,  or  to  being  the  recipient 
of  an  important  document  from  the  United  States. 

Calleen,  who  was  very  daring  in  the  expres- 
sion of  her  sentiments,  said  she  would  like  to 
see  the  inside  of  that  paper,  but  the  others 
rather  frowned  upon  her,  and  for  a  little  while 
she  remained  quite  silent. 

When  they  reached  the  Pacific  Ocean  they 
passed  numerous  small  islands,  but  all  agreed 


COMBIISSIONERS  181 

that  they  were  too  trifling  in  appearance  for 
presidents,  or  important  documents. 

After  a  while  they  saw,  in  the  distance,  land. 
It  appeared  to  be  a  small  continent,  with  a 
volcano  and  other  beautiful  mountains,  with 
valleys  between,  and  as  they  came  nearer,  they 
could  distinguish  rivers  and  dark  woods  and 
fertile  plains  and  cities  and  other  islands. 

"This  is  the  island,"  said  Jack  O'Nory. 

"  This  is  the  island,  sure,"  said  Mr.  Rattles, 
"  and  we  will  very  soon  sail  into  its  harbor." 

And  when  they  did  sail  into  its  harbor,  they 
found  that  it  was  full  of  ships  with  the  United 
States  flag  flying  at  their  mastheads,  and  there 
was  a  great  commotion,  for  officers  and  soldiers 
of  the  United  States  Navy  and  Army  crowded 
its  wharves  and  walked  up  and  down  its  beau- 
tiful shaded  streets,  and  many  lovely  young 
ladies  and  dancing  happy  children  walked  with 
them  or  came  out  of  the  houses  to  greet  them. 

Mr.  Rattles  kept  his  boat  tacking  slowly  in 
the  breeze,  till  the  commissioners  should  have 
made  up  their  minds  what  to  do  next. 

"  I  don't  really  know  what  we  ought  to  do," 
said  Jack  O'Nory.  "  This  is  addressed  to  'His 
Excellency    the   President,'    and   we   must  not 


182  TEE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

show  it  to  any  one  else,  and  we  certainly  cannot 
put  it  in  the  care  of  anybody  else,  so  we  must 
find  '  IJis  Excellency  the  President,'  and  I 
suppose  for  that  reason  we  muat  land  even  if 
there  does  not  appear  to  be  any  landing-place 
free  at  any  wharf." 

Mary  remarked  that  there  were  so  many  flags 
about  with  stars  and  stripes  that  she  certainly 
felt  as  if  she  were  in  the  United  States. 

"  Yes,"  said  Calleen,  "  and  so  many  soldiers 
with  U,  S.  on  their  caps,  and  all  the  ships  are 
U.  S.  ships.  Do  you  suppose  that  the  Pacific 
Ocean  is  part  of  the  United  States  ?  " 

After  a  while,  Mr.  Rattles  discovered  a  small 
pier  where  they  could  land. 

"  I  think  this  pier  belongs  to  private  grounds," 
he  said,  "  but  any  one  who  might  once  see  you 
commissioners  would  allow  that  you  might  land 
'most  anywhere." 

They  stepped  ashore.     Jeanne  said  :  — 

"  Certainly  these  are  private  grounds,  and  did 
you  ever  see  such  beautiful  trees  ?  They  don't 
look  like  our  trees,  and  the  soft  grass  is  like 
velvet.  It  would  be  just  lovely  if  the  violinist 
were  here,  and  we  could  lie  down  on  the  grass 
and  listen  to  his  music." 


COMMISSIONERS  183 

Rosey  Pink  said  :  — 

"  If  the  violinist  were  here,  you  would  have 
to  accompany  him,  and  all  the  rest  of  us  would 
lie  down  and  perhaps  go  to  sleep." 

"  And  the  lieutenant  would  be  happy  here 
to-day,"  said  Jack.  "  But  you  see  we  have  not 
time  to  listen  to  music,  or  to  long  for  the  lieu- 
tenant, for  it  may  take  us  hours  and  hours  to 
find  '  His  Excellency  the  President.'  " 

"  And  besides,  with  all  these  rigs  on,"  sug- 
gested Tom  Murphy,  "  we  had  better  not  think 
of  lying  on  the  grass." 

So  they  followed  a  path  through  these  beau- 
tiful shaded  grounds,  till  they  came  to  a  splendid 
mansion. 

"  I  think  it  is  a  castle,"  Mary  said,  but  Jeanne 
told  her  that  people  did  not  build  castles  on 
islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean.  They  had  no 
time  for  argument,  for  almost  immediately  they 
found  themselves  part  of  a  crowd  of  happy 
people  who  were  assisting  at  a  feast,  where 
long  tables  were  set  out  on  a  lawn,  and  every 
one  who  saw  them  ran  up  to  greet  them,  and 
when  they  saw  the  pins  and  the  stars  and  other 
decorations,  their  reception  of  these  commis- 
sioners became  still  more  cordial  and  impressive ; 


184  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

and  then  they  were  taken  into  a  banqueting 
hall,  where  a  major-general  sat  at  the  head  of 
a  table,  and  where  thej  were  immediately  given 
places  of  honor,  — but  not  together. 

"  A  funny  business  to  be  separated,"  said 
Jack.  And  Tom  agreed  that  it  was  a  kind  of 
dislocating  business. 

The  lady  who  sat  next  to  Mary,  and  who  was 
splendidly  dressed  and  wore  round  her  neck 
garlands  of  the  gayest  flowers,  took  off  one  of 
these  garlands  and  put  it  on  Mary's  neck,  and 
very  soon  all  the  other  girls  were  ornamented 
in  the  same  charming  manner. 

"  There  is  to  be  a  ball  at  the  Executive  Man- 
sion to-night,"  said  Mary's  neighbor,  "and  you 
will  surely  be  there,  will  you  ? " 

"  Yes,  we  are  going  to  the  ball,"  said  Mary. 

"  It  will  be  in  honor  of  the  officers  of  the 
army  and  navy  who  arrived  in  the  ships  yes- 
terday, and  who  are  to  sail  away  again  at  mid- 
night, but  —  you  are  young  for  balls." 

"  We  are  all  young,"  assented  Mary. 

"  But  you  wear  stars  and  other  decorations 
such  as  older  persons  might  wear." 

"  We  are  commissioners,"  said  Mary. 

Then  the  handsome  lady  was  even  more  at- 


COMMISSIONERS  185 

tentive  than  she  had  been,  and  Mary  noticed 
that  the  other  girls  were  getting  on  very  well, 
Calleen  was  deep  in  conversation  with  an  officer 
who  wore  a  colonel's  straps  on  his  shoulders. 

"  Of  course,  he  must  be  a  doctor,"  said  Mary 
to  herself,  "  for  Calleen  would  certainly  not  so 
soon  become  intimate  with  any  one  who  was 
not  a  doctor." 

Jeanne  appeared  to  be  making  very  wise  re- 
marks to  an  officer  with  a  gray  moustache  who 
was  sitting  beside  her,  while  Rosey  Pink  was  not 
taking  notice  of  any  stranger  whatever, — was 
just  sitting  with  wide  eyes,  listening  to  Tom  and 
Jack  as  they  answered  innumerable  questions 
as  to  what  people,  especially  the  Government, 
were  doing  in  the  United  States  now.  It  was 
amazing  to  Rosey,  but  certainly  both  those  boys 
were  talking  as  if  they  were  in  the  habit  of 
living  ivith  the  Government  and  understanding 
about  every  fussy  and  uncertain  and  worrying 
thing,  —  when,  indeed,  actually  they  lived  only  on 
the  beautiful  Island  Impossible,  where  fussy  and 
uncertain  and  worrying  things  were  unknown. 

Sam  and  Ernest  were  also  talking  with  great 
bravery  about  things  of  which  Rosey  was  sure 
they  knew  absolutely  nothing. 


186  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Perhaps  it  is  the  pins  and  stars  and  things," 
she  said  to  herself ;  "  but  I  also  am  wearing 
those  decorations,  and  I  don't  seem  to  be  any- 
body else  but  plain  Rosey  Pink,  while  all  the 
others  look  very  wise  and  very  important." 

There  were  a  great  many  pretty  girls  decked 
with  flowers  flitting  about  waiting  on  the  people 
who  were  sitting  at  the  tables,  both  here  and  on 
the  lawn,  and  Rosey  thought  that  as  no  one  in 
particular  was  watching  her  at  that  moment, 
she  would  just  slip  out  of  her  place  and  help 
these  busy  maidens,  who  received  her  with  a 
"  Welcome  !  Welcome  I  "  and  she  soon  became 
as  alert  as  any  one  of  them,  and  took  especial 
delight  in  waiting  on  the  gray-bearded  officer 
with  whom  Jeanne  was  talking  in  a  little  mousey 
way,  and  in  distracting  the  attention  of  the 
evident  doctor  in  constantly  offering  things  to 
him,  while  Calleen  was  busy  explaining  some 
of  her  theories  ;  and  when  she  came  forward 
with  smiles  to  offer  fruits  and  ices  to  the  boys, 
they  became  greatly  disconcerted,  and  lost  the 
self-possession  they  had  so  suddenly  acquired. 

After  it  was  all  over,  and  the  commissioners 
had  gathered  in  a  little  group  on  the  green  lawn, 
Jack  O'Nory  said  :  — 


COMMISSIONERS  187 

"  It  will  never  do  to  get  separated  again. 
We  are  all  to  go  to  the  ball  at  the  Executive 
Mansion,  and  we  must  keep  together  and  travel 
about  this  charming  city  together,  and  look  at 
everything." 

"  Have  we  been  properly  invited  to  the  ball  ? " 
said  Calleen. 

Mary  thought  "  Yes,"  the  beautiful  lady  who 
sat  next  to  her  had  asked  if  she  was  going  to 
the  ball, —  so  she  supposed  she  had  been  invited  ; 
and  Jeanne  said  the  general  with  the  gray 
moustache  had  invited  her ;  while  Calleen  told 
the  others  that  the  doctor,  who  had  been  sitting 
beside  her  and  who  was  quite  high  up  in  the 
service  and  very  heroic,  had  insisted  upon  her 
going. 

"  All  those  beautiful  girls  invited  me,"  said 
Rosey  Pink, 

The  boys  knew  that  they  had  all  been  invited, 
but  by  whom  it  would  be  hard  to  say. 

"  And,  invited  or  not,"  said  Jack  O'Nory, 
"  we  are  obliged  to  see  '  His  Excellency  the 
President,'  but  where  the  Executive  Mansion  is, 
we  do  not  know." 

They  agreed  that  the  best  thing  to  do  would 
be  to  walk  about  the  city,  whose  windows  were 


188  TUE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

shining  in  the  sunset  light,  and  see  everything, 
and  then  afterwards  come  back  and  rest  in  the 
sail-boat  at  the  foot  of  this  lovely  garden.  After 
that  they  could  follow  some  of  the  ofhcers,  for 
they  knew  that  everybody  was  going  to  the 
ball,  and  just  go  in,  and  as  soon  after  going 
in  as  possible  it  would  be  better  to  present  "  the 
important  document,"  and  then  turn  away  and 
go  home  ;  for  though  this  was  a  lovely  place,  and 
there  was  a  great  deal  going  on,  they  all  thought 
they  would  be  glad  to  be  sailing  into  their  own 
harbor  again. 

"  Yes,"  said  Calleen  ;  "  and  the  doctor,  and 
Jeanne's  friend,  the  general,  and  indeed  almost 
everybody,  is  going  away  to-night  just  as  we 
are." 

So  when  it  was  evening  and  all  the  lamps  in 
the  streets  were  lighted,  the  commissioners  fol- 
lowed a  gayly  dressed  crowd  till  they  came  to  a 
beautiful  spacious  house  with  broad  verandas 
and  lighted  windows.  It  stood  in  a  wide  street 
with  open  grounds  in  front.  It  seemed  as  if 
the  whole  world  was  going  in  tlirough  its  great 
doorways,  and  pretty  soon  the  commissioners 
found  themselves  shaking  hands  with  "  His  Ex- 
cellency the   President ; "   and  the   President's 


COMMISSIONERS  189 

wife,  who  seemed  charmed  with  these  new 
guests,  asked  the  commissioners  if  they  would 
stand  beside  her  and  help  her  in  receiving, 
"For,"  she  said,  " there  are  so  many  strangers 
of  distinction  here  to-night." 

After  helping  to  receive  for  about  one  hour 
and  a  half,  Tom  Murphy  said  to  the  others :  — 

"  It  is  a  pretty  hard  thing  to  shake  hands 
with  the  whole  world.  How  about  you  others, 
don't  your  arms  feel  broken  ?  " 

"  Mine  feels  as  if  I  had  paralysis,"  said 
Calleen  ;  "  and  I  wish  that  doctor  would  come 
along  and  tell  me  what  to  do  for  it." 

"  And  my  hand,"  said  Rosey  Pink,  "  has  gone 
to  sleep." 

Mary  admitted  that  she  had  been  careful  not 
to  shake  hands  very  hard,  and  Jeanne,  who 
never  was  disturbed  by  anything,  said  that  she 
felt  all  right. 

The  other  boys  agreed  with  Tom  that  it  was 
very  hard  work,  especially  Jack  O'Nory,  who 
had  been  holding  the  document  so  resolutely 
with  the  hand  which  had  not  been  occupied  with 
receiving,  that  both  his  arms  were  now  almost 
useless. 

"  Just  so  soon,"  he  said,  "  as  the  people  have 


190  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

stopped  coming  in  such  a  crowd,  and  the  Presi- 
dent has  a  hand  to  spare,  I  am  going  to  put '  the 
important  document'  into  it." 

"  Yes,  do,  Jack,"  said  Rosey  Pink  and  Mary  ; 
"  for  we  are  all  so  tired,  and  we  are  getting 
homesick." 

"  Why,  Mary,"  interrupted  Sam  Holmes,  "  you 
talk  as  if  you  were  almost  crying." 

Mary  told  him  that  she  was  almost  crying, 
and  besides,  that  she  was  sleepy. 

Ernest  confessed  to  being  sleepy  also. 

Pretty  soon  the  people  began  to  come  in  more 
infrequently,  and  Jack  got  ready  to  hand  in 
"  the  important  document." 

"  I  suppose  you  know  that  you  will  have  to 
make  a  speech,  Jack,"  said  Tom. 

"  No,"  Jack  said  ;  he  did  n't  know  that  he  was 
obliged  to  make  a  speech  at  all,  and  if  anybody 
had  to  make  a  speech,  he,  Tom,  must  do  it. 
For  his  part,  he  had  become  so  tired  holding 
that  precious  document,  that  not  only  had  his 
arms  given  out,  but  also  his  brain,  and  if  Tom's 
brain  had  not  given  out,  he  had  better  begin 
now  to  arrange  what  kind  of  a  speech  he  was 
going  to  make.     Tom  said  :  — 

"  That 's  all  right ;  but.  Jack,  we  have  for- 


COMMISSIONERS  191 


gotten  one  thing.  If  we  are  commissioners, 
don't  you  believe  something  more  will  be  ex- 
pected of  us  than  just  to  hand  in  the  docu- 
ment ? " 

Jack  confessed  that  that  thought  had  been 
bothering  him  all  the  evening,  but  thej  had 
both  been  so  busy  shaking  hands  as  to  leave  no 
chance  for  consulting  each  other. 

"  But,"  added  Jack,  "  we  are  all  tired,  and 
we  don't  want  to  stay,  so  I  think  the  best 
thmg  for  us  to  do  will  be  to  slip  away 
just  as  soon  as  possible  after  getting  rid  of 
the  document.  They  can  pick  up  commission- 
ers anywhere;  the  world  is  just  jammed  full 
of  commissioners." 

^^  Tom  agreed  to  this,  and  when  Jack  asked, 
"  Ready  ? "  he  assented,  and  the  two  boys  ad- 
vanced till  they  were  close  to  the  President. 

^  "Don't  present  it,  Jack,"  said  Tom,  "  until  I 
give  you  a  little  tap  on  the  shoulder." 

"All  right;  but  for  any  sake  don't  make  a 
long  speech." 

"Your  Excellency  the  President,"  said  Tom, 
"  we  are  commissioners  from  the  United  States' 
of  America." 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  you,"  said  His  Excellency. 


192  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"And  our  commission  is  to  hand  to  you  a 
certain  paper." 

It  seemed  then  as  if  the  President  imme- 
diately stood  up  on  the  tips  of  his  toes,  and  his 
eyes  grew  very  large,  while  the  President's  wife 
did  not,  for  a  moment,  remove  her  glance  from 
the  faces  of  the  two  commissioners.  Then 
instead  of  Tom's  giving  Jack  O'Nory  a  little 
tap  on  the  shoulder,  as  had  been  agreed  upon, 
he  said  :  — 

"  I  don't  know  anything  more  to  say.  Jack. 
Hand  the  document  to  His  Excellency  the 
President." 

Jack  put  the  paper  into  the  President's  hand. 

By  this  time  quite  a  little  crowd  of  people 
who  had  heard  Tom's  speech  were  standing 
with  expectant  eyes  around  the  presidential 
group. 

The  President,  with  a  trembling  hand,  opened 
the  document.  He  turned  first  very  pale,  then 
his  eyes  filled  with  tears.  The  Secretary  of 
War,  who  was  at  his  side,  leaned  over  and  read 
the  paper,  whose  words  were  very  few.  Then 
the  President,  whose  eyes  were  shining  now, 
and  whose  face  was  bright  as  if  somewhere  the 
sun  had  risen,  took  his  wife's  hand  and  turned 


COMMISSIONERS  193 

to  the  people,  who  had  become  silent,  waiting 
for  something  they  knew  not  what.  He  waved 
the  paper  in  his  hand,  and  said  :  — 

"  Citizens  of  the  United  States  of  America,  I 
give  you  joy." 

Instantly  it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  world  had 
broken  out  in  cheering.  Then  everybody  was 
shaking  hands  with  everybody  else,  and  the 
great  guns  were  saluting,  and  bands  of  music 
playing  "  The  Star  Spangled  Banner "  were 
gathering  from  every  quarter ;  and  as  for  the 
commissioners,  they  were  almost  lifted  up  and 
placed  in  seats  of  honor,  and  everybody  was 
cheering  for  them. 

"Oh,  those  great  guns,"  said  Mary. 

"  Yes,  is  n't  it  beautiful,"  answered  a  lady  at 
her  side.  "  They  are  in  the  Executive  grounds, 
and  they  have  begun  to  fire  the  salute  of  one 
hundred  guns,  and  there  will  be  fireworks." 

"  Oh,  oh  !  "  said  Mary. 

It  was  all  very  beautiful  and  very  inspiring, 
but  Sam  was  afraid  that  with  the  salute  of  one 
hundred  guns  and  with  the  fireworks  Mary 
might  certainly  die ;  and  the  boys  had  their 
fears  that,  after  all,  the  whole  party  might  be 
detained  as  commissioners,  and  every  one  felt 

13 


194  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

that  the  happiest  moment  would  come  when 
they  were  all  down  at  the  pier  again  with  Mr. 
Rattles. 

And  so  in  an  interval  when  they  were  not 
under  close  observation  the  commissioners 
slipped  away,  and  no  one  on  that  beautiful 
United  States  island  knows,  to  this  day,  what 
became  of  the  messengers  who  brought  the  good 
news  to  Honolulu. 


AUF    WIEDERSEHEN  195 


CHAPTER   XII 

AUF    WIEDERSEHEN 

/^NE  day  the  children  were  all  sitting  on  the 
^^  shore  in  the  sunshine,  when  Calleen  said, 
quite  suddenly :  — 

"  We  are  growing  up." 

"  Oh,  no ;  oh,  no,"  said  the  others. 

Then  there  was  an  ominous  silence. 

"  It  is  abominable,"  continued  Calleen,  "  but 
it  is  true ;  last  Sunday  when  we  went  over  to 
the  Continent  to  church,  the  dear  auntie  said, 
'  Calleen,  you  are  growing  so  tall  that  your 
dresses  are  up  to  your  knees,'  —  so  next  Sunday 
I  am  to  be  put  into  long  dresses." 

"  Did  she  say  anything  else  ? "  asked  Rosey 
Pink. 

"  Well,  not  much  else.  When  she  looked  at 
me  there  was  a  kind  of  little  pucker  between 
her  eyebrows,  and  —  I  think  —  she  said  —  that 
I  looked  gawky." 

"  Oh,  you  poor  Calleen,"  exclaimed  all  the 
others. 


196  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  And  the  fact  of  the  matter  is,"  said  Calleen, 
"  that  if  I  am  growing  up,  all  the  rest  of  you  are 
doing  the  same  thing  ;  and  it  is  abominable." 

Jeanne  suggested  to  Mary  and  Rosey  Pink 
that  perhaps  they  all  three  looked  gawky  also ; 
and  Calleen  seemed  to  find  pleasure  in  believing 
that  as  Rosey  Pink  and  Mary  were  quite  as  tall 
as  she,  they  probably  had  the  right  to  have  the 
same  adjective  applied  to  them,  while  Jeanne, 
who  was  not  so  tall,  and  who  was  as  graceful  as 
a  kitten,  would  certainly  not  deserve  to  be  called 
gawky. 

"  What  about  the  boys  ?  "  asked  Jack  O'Nory. 
Calleen  answered  that  "  Nobody  had  said  any- 
thing about  the  boys ; "  but  Rosey  Pink  inter- 
rupted to  say  that  in  the  cars  last  Sunday,  when 
they  were  coming  to  the  bridge,  she  heard  some- 
body say,  "All  arms  and  legs."  She  didn't 
know  of  whom  that  person  was  talking,  but  it 
probably  was  about  the  boys. 

The  boys  looked  at  each  other,  and  they  be- 
gan to  whistle  softly  to  themselves,  and  then 
remarked  that  growing  up  was  very  inconven- 
ient. Nobody  seemed  at  all  anxious  to  grow 
up,  but  they  looked  at  each  other  now  atten- 
tively. 


AUF   WIEDERSEHEN  197 

They  were  obliged  to  notice  that  the  girls 
were  slimmer  than  they  used  to  be,  that  their 
bright  faces  were  more  thoughtful,  that  the 
boys'  eyes  were  serious,  and  their  lips  were  more 
firmly  set  than  in  days  gone  by.  So  after  re- 
garding each  other  attentively  for  a  few  min- 
utes, they  agreed  again  that  it  was  "  very 
inconvenient ; "  and  Mary  said  the  whole  trouble 
about  the  matter  was,  that  they  could  not  stop 
growing  up  now  that  they  had  begun  that  busi- 
ness ;  that  every  day  they  would  be  getting  more 
and  more  grown  up,  and  they  would  be  learn- 
ing every  kind  of  new  thing,  and  that  pretty 
soon  separations  would  come,  which  would  be 
more  than  inconvenient  —  would  be  simply 
unbearable. 

Then  all  the  children  declared  that  would  be 
too  sorrowful,  while  Sam  Holmes  said,  very 
softly :  — 

"  I  am  never  going  to  be  separated  from  you, 
Mary."     And  Mary's  face  looked  like  a  red  rose. 

And  as  day  followed  day  after  this,  they  be- 
gan to  watch  each  other  suspiciously,  looking 
for  those  dreaded  growing-up  signs ;  and  when 
the  lieutenant  had,  at  last,  convinced  Jack  that 
he  ought   to  enter   the  naval  school,  and  the 


198  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

professor  had  told  Tom  that  arrangements  had 
been  made  through  which  the  college  courses 
had  been  increased  and  widened,  so  as  to  em- 
brace all  knowledge  under  the  sun  ;  and  Mar- 
garet Parker  had  appeared  at  lessons  with  her 
dress  down  to  the  ground, —  indeed,  trailing  a 
little,  —  the  opinion  about  the  growing  up  be- 
came quite  fixed. 

Jeanne  had,  once  or  twice,  gone  over  to  the 
Continent  to  accompany  the  violinist  at  what 
were  called  parlor  concerts ;  and  as  the  parlor 
concerts  were  attended  by  all  the  friends  of  the 
children,  of  course  these  same  children  were  there 
too,  and  they  could  not  resist  the  impression 
that  Jeanne  had  grown  taller,  and  that  she 
handled  her  violin  in  such  manner  that  all  shy- 
ness and  too  great  youthfulness  had  departed 
from  her. 

Calleen  had  hurt  her  foot  quite  a  good  deal 
one  day,  which  injury  called  for  the  help  of  a 
doctor,  —  a  young  and  very  pleasant  doctor ;  and 
after  that  she  seemed  to  require  occasional  help 
frequently,  and  had  a  great  deal  to  say  about 
the  fibula  and  the  adjacent  muscles  and  other 
bones  and  tendons,  and  it  was  thought  she  took 
more  interest  in  the  healing  of  her  foot  than  the 


AUF   WIEDERSEHEN  199 

doctor  did,  naturally,  one  might  say  ;  but  the 
conclusion  was  that  they  took  more  time  about 
it  than  the  hurt  called  for,  and  at  last  Calleen's 
firm  decision  was  arrived  at,  that  her  vocation 
was  to  take  a  course  in  medicine.  The  pleasant 
doctor  looked  dubious,  but  Calleen  had  made  up 
her  mind, 

Ernest  was  sorry  that  they  had  not  built  a 
polytechnic  school  on  the  Island,  as  he  cer- 
tainly intended  to  be  an  electrical  engineer,  but 
there  did  not  seem  to  be  opportunities  for  any 
more  colleges  of  any  kind  on  The  Island  Im- 
possible ;  and  when  Margaret  Parker  said  that 
in  the  city  where  she  lived  —  farther  west  — 
there  was  a  splendid  polytechnic  institute,  and 
that  after  she  had  finished  her  education  here 
she  was  going  back  to  her  home,  Ernest  seemed 
to  be  quite  satisfied  to  go  through  the  classes 
in  their  own  college  that  would  fit  him,  later,  to 
enter  the  electrical  course  in  that  city  in  the 
West. 

Sam's  aspirations  were  for  a  business  life,  and 
the  college  here  would  furnish  him  with  all  the 
education  he  desired,  and  Mary  rather  encour- 
aged him  in  these  conclusions. 

As  for  Rosey  Pink,  when  she  was  not  career- 


200  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

ing  about  with  Tom  and  Jack,  or  advising  them, 
or  sympathizing  with  them  about  something  or 
other,  she  was  a  hard  student,  and  the  professor 
said  he  knew  that  when  she  should  have  passed 
through  the  examinations  next  year  she  would 
be  a  Ph.  D. 

All  these  children  who  were  growing  up  so 
fast  had  a  great  admiration  for  each  other,  and 
were  so  close  in  love  and  sympathy,  as  well  as 
in  every  kind  of  mischief,  that  any  one  looking 
at  them  might  indeed  feel  sorry  if  separations 
must  come ;  but  they  made  up  their  minds  that 
even  if  they  were  ceasing  to  be  children,  they 
would  take  no  notice  of  that  fact :  they  would 
still  be  children  to  each  other. 

And  Anno  and  Roscoe  went  on  waiting  on 
them  and  interfering  with  them  just  as  if  the 
girls  had  not  begun  to  turn  up  their  back  hair, 
and  the  boys  had  not  begun  to  have  little  dark, 
downy  marks  about  their  lips. 

But  time  is  a  cruel  old  bird ;  he  flies  very  fast, 
and  as  he  flies  he  picks  up  one  and  another  and 
sets  them  down  sometimes  very  far  apart, — 
drops  the  children  in  different  fields  and  cities 
and  shores,  and  the  worst  of  it  is,  there  is  not  a 
bit  of  use  in  trying  to  argue  with  him :  he  flies 


AUF   WIEDERSEHEN  201 

away  while  one  is  getting  ready  to  explain  that 
these  doings  are  very  unwelcome. 

Jack  and  Tom  were  walking  one  day  with  the 
lieutenant,  who  was  talking  in  his  low,  musical 
hut  earnest  voice,  and  telling  of  other  countries 
and  of  the  wonderful  great  deeds  that  were  per- 
formed on  the  ships  of  war  when  there  was 
trouble  because  great  wrongs  had  to  be  made 
right,  and  as  he  spoke  his  voice  became  enthu- 
siastic and  his  eyes  were  very  bright,  and  Tom, 
looking  at  Jack,  noticed  that  his  eyes  shone  just 
as  the  lieutenant's  did.  When  the  lieutenant 
had  gone  away,  Jack  and  Tom  walked  along 
together  quite  silent.     At  last  Tom  said :  — 

"  What  is  it  to  be,  Jack  ? " 

"  I  think,  the  navy." 

Again  there  was  silence  for  awhile,  then  Jack 
asked  :  — 

"  And  you,  Tom  ?  " 

"  I  think,  the  scientific  course." 

After  awhile  Tom  said,  speaking  very  slowly, 
"  To  be  separated  even  in  our  studies  is  a  bad 
business,  and  what  will  it  be  by  and  by.  Now 
we  liave  the  studio,  and  onr  painting  together, 
and  the  daily  life  ;  but  oh,  Jack  !  oh,  Jack  !  " 


202  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

"  Oh,  Tom !     Oh,  my  Tom  !  " 

When  they  came  down  to  the  harbor  Rosey 
Pink  was  sitting  on  the  beach  waiting  for  them. 
There  was  a  question  in  her  eyes,  and  Tom 
answered  it. 

"  It  is  to  be  the  navy,  Rosey." 

She  did  not  speak,  but  stood  up  beside  the 
boys.  She  laid  her  head  on  Jack's  shoulder, 
and  after  awhile  he  turned  and  clasped  her 
hand  and  Tom's.  "  This  must  be  our  motto," 
he  said :  "  Hand  in  hand  ;  shoulder  to  shoulder ; 
heart  to  heart,  though  the  seas  separate  us." 

And  the  others  said :  "  Hand  in  hand ;  shoulder 
to  shoulder ;  heart  to  heart,  though  the  seas  sep- 
arate us." 

So  the  matter  was  decided,  and  Jack  O'Nory's 
name  was  entered  on  the  books  of  the  naval 
school,  while  Tom's  scientific  course  began,  and 
Rosey  Pink  had  commenced  her  last  studies 
before  she  should  take  the  examinations,  after 
which  she  was  certain  to  become  a  Ph.  D. 

And  there  came  an  evening  which  was  to  be 
their  last  of  full  companionship. 

To-morrow,  wagon  loads  of  stone  and  mortar 
and  lumber  would  come  across  the  bridge  right 


AUF   WIEDERSEHEN  203 

into  the  heart  of  The  Island  Impossible,  in  prep- 
aration for  the  new  navy  yard. 

To-morrow  the  dear  old  college  would  be 
emptied  of  its  belongings,  and  the  new  college 
on  the  Continent  would  be  opened,  —  the  college 
in  which  Tom  Murphy  was  a  professor  and 
Rosey  Pink  had  become  a  Ph.  D,,  and  where, 
also,  a  studio  had  been  granted  to  Jack  and 
Tom,  on  whose  walls  all  the  pictures  they  had 
painted  were  hanging  side  by  side. 

To-morrow  Anno,  who  had  married  Roscoe, 
was  to  become  possessor  of  the  children's  house- 
keeping belongings,  and  move  them  over  to  the 
new  college,  in  which  Roscoe  was  to  be  janitor. 

To-morrow  there  were  to  be  two  brides, — 
Mary  and  Jeanne ;  and  two  bridegrooms,  — 
Sam  and  the  violinist.  And  this  little  colony 
of  grown-up  children,  including  even  the  brides, 
was  very  sorrowful. 

They  had  walked  together  in  the  clear  moon- 
light to  the  hill  where  they  had  christened 
The  Island  Impossible,  "  For,"  said  Tom  Mur- 
phy, "  we  must  now  give  it  another  name,  '  The 
New  United  States  Navy  Yard.'  " 

So  they  stood  close  together  while  Jack 
O'Nory  broke  the  crystal  vase  of   pure  water 


204  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

upon  the  ground,  and  they  all  cried  out  at  the 
same  moment :  — 

"  New  United  States  Navj  Yard,  we  christen 
you,  and  say, '  Good  luck  !  Good  luck  ! '  and  may 
the  shijjs  that  sail  out  of  your  harbor  be  the  best 
on  all  the  seas,  and  may  their  officers  and  their 
sailors  take  for  their  motto,  '  To  do  our  best  in 
the  sight  of  God.'  " 

"  Somebody  always  has  to  make  a  speech," 
said  Calleen. 

Rosey  Pink  said,  "  Wait  a  moment,  for  I  see 
the  lieutenant  and  the  violinist  coming  this  way ; 
one  of  them  must  make  the  speech." 

"  Oh,  yes ;  oh,  yes." 

So  when  the  lieutenant  and  the  violinist  joined 
the  children,  Tom  Murphy  said  :  — 

"  Lieutenant,  you  know  how  sorry  we  are  to- 
night, for  the  parting  time  has  come.  Will  you 
say  a  few  words  of  good  cheer  to  us,  for  it  is  with 
you  that  Jack  O'Nory  is  to  sail  away  across  the 
sea,  so  it  is  you  who  must  try  to  comfort  us." 

The  lieutenant  said  :  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  you 
dear  children,  who  brought  us  to  this  happy 
shore.  You  are,  every  one,  under  the  strong 
and  tender  care  of  the  King  of  kings,  and  He 
will  keep  you  together  in  love  and  sympathy. 


AUF    WIEDERSEHEN  205 

Resign  each  other  into  that  high  guardianship, 
sure  that  you  shall  be  still  comrades,  doing  the 
work  He  gives  you  to  do,  and  loving  each  other 
always  as  you  love  each  other  to-day." 

The  violinist  cried  out :  "  Oh,  dear  heart,  my 
sweet  Jeanne.  I  am  like  you,  sorrowful  for  the 
parting ;  though  '  I  am  looking  forward  to  the 
happy  days  together,'  —  and  you  '  dear  others,' 
what  can  we  do  without  you  all  ?  Let  us  say  to 
each  other  the  sweet,  old  German  words  for  fare- 
well, which  my  mother  used  to  say,  '  Auf  wie- 
dersehen.'  They  mean,  '  may  all  that  is  best  be 
yours  till  we  see  each  other  again  ; '  but,  Jeanne, 
how  glad  I  am  that  I  must  not  say  to  you,  dear 
heart,  '  Auf  wiedersehen.'  " 

Then  the  lieutenant  and  the  violinist  went 
away  together  down  the  hill.     Some  one  said  :  — 

"  Let  each  one  of  us  pray  every  day  the  prayer 
that  shall  keep  us  together  ;  the  prayer  that  the 
bishop  said  last  Sunday,  when  he  laid  his  hands 
upon  our  heads  in  the  confirmation  service." 

"  And  for  the  first  time,  together,"  said  Jack 
O'Nory. 

Rosey  Pink  slipped  in  between  Jack  and  Tom, 
she  laid  their  two  hands  in  each  other  and 
clasped  hers  around  them.     So  all  the  children 


206  THE  ISLAND  IMPOSSIBLE 

stood  with  clasping  hands  and  uplifted  eyes  and 
said :  — 

"  Defend,  0  Lord,  us.  Thy  children,  with  Thy 
heavenly  grace,  that  we  may  continue  Thine 
forever,  and  daily  increase  in  Thy  Holy  Spirit 
more  and  more,  until  we  come  unto  Thy  ever- 
lasting kingdom." 

Then  they  came  slowly  down  the  hill  and 
stood  on  the  shore  of  their  harbor,  with  the 
memories  of  those  other  cheery,  dancing  days 
filling  their  hearts. 

"  Many  a  night,"  said  Jack  O'Nory,  "  we  have 
fallen  asleep  here  on  the  sands." 

"  Yes,"  said  Tom  Murphy,  "  and  have  said  to 
each  other.  Good  niglit,  and  Good  night,  and 
Good  night." 


L'ENVOI. 

Farewell  to  the  wond'rous  fleets 
That  sail  to  Impossible  Lands, 
Farewell  to  their  cities'  happy  streets, 
And  their  oceans'  shining  sands. 
Fair  lands, 
Good  night. 

They  lie  on  the  other  side 
Of  the  fields  where  the  poppies  grow, 
And  in  their  harbors  wide 
The  singing  waters  ebb  and  flow, 
Low,  low. 
Good  night. 


MRS.    WESSELHOEFTS    STORIES. 


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SHAWL-STRAPS.    Illustrated.  i6mo. 

Jl.OO. 

CUPID   AND   CHOW-CHOW.  Illus- 
trated.    i6mo.     $1.00. 


MY   GIRLS.     Illustrated.    i6mo.    $1.00. 

JIMMY'S    CRUISE    IN    THE  PINA- 

FORE,  ETC.    Illustrated.   i6mo.   $1.00. 

AN      OLD-FASHIONED      THANKS- 

GIVING.     Illustrated.     i6mo.     gi.oo. 


The  above  six  volumes,  uniformly  bound  in  cloth,  gilt,  in  bo.x,  J6.00. 

LULU'S    LIBRARY. 

Three  volumes.    Each,  ^i.oo.     The  set  uniformly  bound  in  cloth,  gilt,  in  box,  $5.00. 
NOVELS,    ETC.       Uniform  with  "  Little  IVomen  Series." 

HOSPITAL    SKETCHES,    and    Camp 
and  Fireside  Stories.      With  Illustra- 
tions.   i6mo.    5i-5'3- 
WORK  :  A  Story  of  Experience.     Illus- 
trated by  Sol  Eytinge.    i6mo.    $1.50. 

The  above  four  volumes,  uniformly  bound  in  cloth,  gilt,  in  box 


MOODS.    A  Novel.    i6mo.    $1.50. 

A    MODERN     MEPHISTOPHELES, 
AND  A  WHISPER  IN  THE  DARK. 

i6mo.     $1.50. 


COMIC  TRAGEDIES.  Written  by  "  Jo" 
and  "Meg,"  and  acted  by  the  "  Little 
Women,"  with  a  Foreword  by  "  Meg." 
Portraits,  etc.     i6mo.    5i-5o. 


LIFE  OF  MISS  ALCOTT.  Louisa 
May  Alcott:  Her  Life,  Letters,  and 
Journals.  Edited  by  Ednah  D.  Cheney. 
Photogravure  Portraits,  etc.  i6mo. 
$1.50. 


LITTLE    WOMEN.      Illustrated  edition. 

Embellished  with  nearly  two  hundred  Characteristic  Illustrations  from  Original  De- 
signs drawn  expressly  for  this  edition  of  this  noted  American  Classic.  Small  quarto, 
cloth,  gilt,  1^2.50. 


iLittle,  iJtoton,  antr  (Kompans,  ^nWuf^tvn, 

254  Washington  Street,  Boston. 


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